


here’s a map; now let’s get lost together.

by roommate



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Blood, F/M, M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Pokemon Battle, Pokemon Death, Pokemon Journey, Pokemon Training, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-06 22:00:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 10
Words: 326,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4238106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roommate/pseuds/roommate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So here’s the plan: Kyungsoo goes to Mokpo-si and claims a Pokemon to start his journey with. He earns his trainer license and gets a PokeDex, to boot. He runs into a familiar face and falls flat on his ass, only to find out that this guy who’d just knocked him to the ground? It’s the same guy he’s spent the past decade of his life trying to stay away from. And it’s the same person who has half of the Pokeball he carries around with him in his pocket wherever he goes. (Pokemon AU) (<b>Warnings:</b> graphic depictions of violence, blood, animal/Pokemon-harming, serious body injuries, mentions of death in the family due to war, sex without protection. <span class="u">Please take these warnings seriously.</span>)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. off-shore: welcome to mokpo-si

**Author's Note:**

> ☆ first off: **this fic deals heavily with violence.** you have been warned. also, the project name for this fic is ‘maps’, hence the title in the tweet. the complete title is _here’s a map; now let’s get lost together._ feel free to refer to it as ‘maps’, though!
> 
> ☆☆ second, my biggest thank you to the exordium mods for holding this fest and for being such superstars all in all. to frances, my beta and my savior, the mac to my cheese, my partner in crime, thank you SO MUCH for everything. to jq who helped me with important pokemon choices for the characters, my endless thanks. thank you, as well, to the people who have kept me sane throughout the writing period, cheered me on, listened to me rant and rave about pokemon, sprinted with me and _kept me awake_ , for the quick-consults-turned-lengthy-discussions – lonio, chelsea, hyemi, ansa, ren, adele, and jenn. when i say i wouldn’t have made it through without you, i mean it. i cannot thank you enough. I LOVE YOU ♥ lastly, to team aster, for being such great sports and for powering through, you guys are the best! _we made it,_ everyone. we finally made it c:
> 
> ☆☆☆ here’s an accompanying playlist for the story, split into two parts – _wayward paths,_ [# 1](http://8tracks.com/dongsaengdeul/wayward-paths-part-i) and [# 2](http://8tracks.com/dongsaengdeul/wayward-paths-part-ii). for a background theme, please listen to [this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAhna3Q9FjY)
> 
> ☆☆☆☆ [HERE's](http://padlet.com/onyu/exordium-heresamap-baeksoo) a padlet with photos of all the pokemon that were mentioned in the fic, listed in the order that they appeared. ([high-res JPEG](http://i.imgur.com/j5U4ocb.jpg) | [low-res JPEG](http://i.imgur.com/zVt0XOJ.jpg))
> 
> ☆☆☆☆☆ and [HERE's](http://i.imgur.com/MF50lgT.jpg) a map of the important places featured in this fic.

Kyungsoo looks around him and takes a deep breath. Sunlight hits his skin, leaves tiny spots of light that prickle him all over. He shivers. It makes him want to grab the sunglasses dangling from the collar of Seungsoo's shirt or maybe even blindfold himself until his eyes adjust to the new light. It makes him want to retreat to the back of that truck again, lumped with boxes filled with memories of Sinyuk-ri in it. He's supposed to be accustomed to this by now, being exposed to the sun, being blinded by it, but _this_ feels different. He can't smell the scent of dried fish in the air, thick in his nostrils. He can't sway to the steady rhythm of waves crashing to shore or against each other. And he can't crane his neck in the hope of finding a familiar face just a few feet away. Instead, he finds buildings, a couple of houses here and there, too tall and intimidating. Wide streets donned with people who are lugging around plastic bags, baby Pokemon following them from one place to another.

Something heavy lands on his head. When he looks up, he finds thick white fur, and Wingull taps a quick beat on his forehead before flying off.

"Good thing Slaking's in a good mood today!" comes Seungsoo's voice from behind the truck. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder, then, and finds Slaking climbing onto the back of the vehicle. Slaking scoops three boxes into its arms then hops back down on solid ground, marching to where the rest of their things are lumped together. On a normal day, Kyungsoo would have to bring two out of three boxes and hope, maybe even pray, that Slaking would pick up the last one. If it didn't then Seungsoo would have to bend his rickety (Baekbeom's words, not his) knees just to pick up the remaining box and carry it to their new apartment here in Mokpo-si. But it’s not one of those ’normal days'. Slaking seems to be in a better mood than the usual, easing well into the change in atmosphere. It isn't dragging its feet from one point to another. And it's even smiling at Kyungsoo, not that smile it wears when it's begging to be fed or for a bit of Seungsoo's time.

"Guess the transfer isn't so bad," Kyungsoo mumbles. He reaches over to ruffle Slaking's fur. Slaking beams at him. He can't decide yet if it's creepy or amusing, not with the fangs Slaking is flashing at him. "Seems like a good place for Pokemon."

“ _And_ we still get a glimpse of the sea. It's just a quick ride away. Or you can walk, I guess, Should be close enough to the beach." Seungsoo nods his head to the left. Kyungsoo can make out the faint body of water in the distance. It looks like soup in a bowl compared to the vast seas surrounding Sinyuk-ri. "Your Ralts would probably like to see it again. I mean, this the longest you've kept it in a Pokeball."

Kyungsoo snorts. Seungsoo's right; Ralts _has_ always preferred to stay outside of its ball and send Kyungsoo's homework flying from one corner of his room to the other. And it looked too scared when Kyungsoo asked it to please, please, _please_ get inside the Pokeball for its own safety. So he feels for the lone Pokeball in his pocket and tosses it in the air, rushing forward when he sees Ralts’ limp figure emerging from the capsule to cradle the Pokemon – his sleeping Ralts – in his arms.

"Maybe not," Seungsoo says, laughing a little. He bumps Kyungsoo in the hip with his own, and then walks ahead. "Try to finish unpacking before sunset! Finally got in touch with Baekbeom and he says he’s taking us somewhere nice!"

He gives the scene before him another quick look before rubbing the underside of Ralts' chin. In a few hours, he'll get to explore parts of Mokpo-si, get acquainted with it better. In a few hours, he'll have to fully accept to himself that Sinyuki-ri will never be the same, not after the entire population almost got wiped out by that massive wave. That he won't be able to return until months after, at the end of his quest. And in a few more hours, he'll get summoned to Professor Kwon's laboratory and receive his license to be a trainer, the first set of licenses to be handed out after the government banned the use of Pokemon in battles in the hope of preserving certain species that were slowly getting extinct.

He's twenty, too ripe an age to start as a trainer. But in this day and age, they're lucky to be even getting any new trainers at all.

Ralts makes a tiny sound at the back of its throat and tilts its head up in his direction. "Hey, kid. Time to get up now. Help me with the other boxes?" he whispers, leaning in close enough that he can nuzzle the soft strands of Ralts' hair. Ralts lets out a low groan at first before extending its arm in the direction of the boxes then disappears soon after. His breath hitches – at Ralts disappearing out of the blue, at the gaping lack of warmth in his arms. At the sudden _shift,_ leaving him out of balance, teetering on the edge of uncertainty again.

 _Get over it, Kyungsoo. Get used to this,_ he tells himself as he fixes his eyes on the building in front of him. The yellow of the walls makes their small house back in Sinyuk-ri look like a poor excuse for a shelter, a _home._ It makes him squint even more, the bright rays of light poking at his eyes and forcing him to shut them closed as fast as he can. He doesn't give in, though. Instead, he holds one hand up to shield his eyes from the sun then picks up his bag with the other.

When he arrives at his room, Ralts has already transported his things. So he shuts the door behind him tight and takes his things out of the box, one by one, until the once barren room looks a lot like his old room. Close enough to _home._

↮

'Somewhere nice' turns out to be a trip to the seafood market downtown. It's a good ten minutes away, maybe even eight minutes if they just walked faster, but then Seungsoo and Baekbeom were too caught up in conversation to even notice Kyungsoo, who’d been _trying_ to sneak past them and walk four, five steps ahead. Kyungsoo doesn't blame them, though – the last time they saw each other was a decade ago, when Baekbeom's family had to move all the way to Sokcho-si, north of the country, but still close to the sea. There were more fish there, Baekbeom's father said. There were more residents to sell to. Seoraksan was just a few meters away, making the city a hit to most tourists, so it was easy to find buyers in travelers who were there for a visit. All in all, being a fisherman there was far more lucrative than trying to earn a living in little Sinyuk-ri. So the next thing Baekbeom knew, the family was packing their belongings in boxes, trying to fit their lives in a handful of luggage that were probably too small even for someone who was going on a three-day trip to Seoul. And the next thing Kyungsoo and Seungsoo knew, they were watching Seungsoo wave over his shoulder and disappearing behind the doors of the bus.

"You okay there?" Baekbeom asks, looking to his side. He has an eyebrow cocked at him. It's supposed to be familiar, Kyungsoo can feel it, but it's been too long already. He can't even remember Baekbeom's smile anymore, or if he liked winter kimchi over spring kimchi. Maybe his memories have been washed away by the waves, as well, the day the tsunami struck, or maybe he's dropped them to the bottom of the sea on his way to Mokpo-si. Or in one of those trips – he can’t recall anymore. It’s the first time he’s seeing too many places at once and he feels like an ant lost in a big city. "The market's just a few more minutes away. Baekhyunnie's there, if you need company. I bet he's excited to see you."

Kyungsoo snorts. "Everything excites him," he mumbles, then digs his hands in his pockets. "Even breathing."

His clearest memory of Baekhyun is when they were eight. They were running along the shore then, trying to chase the waters _and_ run away from them when they came too close. Baekhyun was still deathly afraid of water that time, couldn't even dip his feet into waters two feet high without having to grip Kyungsoo by the arm as tightly as he could. "If I were a Pokemon, I'd probably be a fire-type," he murmured under his breath, then yelped when a Magikarp came rising from the waters. Then Baekhyun lost his balance, held onto Kyungsoo even tighter in an attempt to steady himself. But the Magikarp was unrelenting. It kept splashing about, kept taunting Baekhyun like it knew Baekhyun's limits and how the mere mention of taking a dip in the water make Baekhyun shiver all over. So Kyungsoo tried to help out, wrapped his arms around Baekhyun to try to keep him from flailing around, at the very least, shivering when he felt the shift of Baekhyun's muscles against his limbs.

His stomach lurched. His knees gave out. The next thing he knew, Baekhyun's back was pressed against his chest and they were falling back into the sea, the cool, salty waters washing all over them and making them feel light.

"And... we're here!" comes Baekbeom's voice. He holds two thumbs up then grins at them. "This is it: the... little pride of Mokpo-si, I guess?"

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, refocusing his vision. The seafood market isn't so big, just about the size of three houses beside each other, but the place is _cramped_ – with foods stalls, with people, with all sorts of weird things. There's someone selling fruit candy in a corner, marketing it as the perfect dessert after eating too much dried squid. A few feet away, someone's selling bungeoppang, red bean-stuffed pastries taking the form of fish-shaped dough. And then much father away, about three, four stalls from where they are right now, someone's calling out in the loudest, most obnoxious voice ever, "Hongeo-hoe, fresh from the fridge! Better than your regular Mantine and definitely tastier than Magikarp!"

Kyungsoo laughs a little. The first two years he’d spent walking alongside Baekhyun, listening to his stories, being _his friend,_ Baekhyun wondered if people ever ate Magikarp meat. Kyungsoo had asked, who'd even attempt to break a Magikarp's shell? And Baekhyun had replied, I bet Magikarp's the tastiest fish _ever!_

“You didn’t answer my question,” Kyungsoo had argued.

“And I bet you haven’t even attempted breaking a Magikarp shell,” Baekhyun had retorted, grinning. He looked so sure of things, Kyungsoo couldn’t find the heart to keep debating with him and crush Baekhyun’s dreams. So he rolled his eyes when he could have fought back, let out a breath sigh instead of pinching Baekhyun in his side. And he let Baekhyun slip an arm around his shoulder to pull him close, for Baekhyun to rub in that silly grin on his face by leaning into Kyungsoo a bit too close for comfort, close enough that Kyungsoo could smell the scent of sand, sweat, and the sea in Baekhyun’s hair.

Fast forward a decade after and here he is now, an apron wrapped around his waist, comparing Mokpo-si's signature hongeo-hoe to Magikarp meat. And Kyungsoo still hasn't stopped snorting, at least cackling a little at Baekhyun's weird antics even as they wade through the crowd, packets of laughter bubbling on his lips with every deep breath he takes.

Baekhyun doesn't look in their direction until they're only two feet away. His lips fall open into a small 'o', and his eyebrows lift a little. His cheeks are flushed a nice shade of red, probably from being exposed to heat for an extended period of time. Beside him, his Numel blows tiny tongues of flame into the cooker, then nuzzles the back of his hand as if reminding him that hey, you still have work to do. There's uncooked chicken waiting to be dipped into the frying pan because offering just hongeo-hoe isn't enough to earn a living – Kyungsoo learned this back when they were volunteering to help in the little market in their village – but Baekhyun doesn’t sink them into the hot cooking oil yet. Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek then cocks an eyebrow at him in greeting. Only when they inch even closer, when Kyungsoo, Seungsoo, and Baekbeom stop just in front of the stall, does Baekhyun snap of out his trace, drop the chicken in the pan, and then shift his gaze to what he's supposed to be doing.

"I don't think you're supposed to be cooking a spatula like that," Kyungsoo whispers, just loud enough for Baekhyun to hear above the crackling of the oil. "Or at all..." he continues when Baekhyun jerks back in realization and retrieves the fallen stick from the pan.

"Still–" Baekhyun pauses, lips hanging parted as he furrows his eyebrows – in search for the right word, or maybe a name to attach to Kyungsoo's face, Kyungsoo isn't so sure. Baekhyun has always been better at dealing with visuals, after all; the memorization part, Kyungsoo takes care of.

"–still tiny. Like your Ralts," he continues after a while. The corners of his lips pull up into a smile, slow enough that Kyungsoo is able to see the faint quiver of Baekhyun's bottom lip, or the way he bites on it for a moment before letting his mouth fall open into a grin. "Some things don't change, huh?"

Yeah, sure, Kyungsoo wants to say, because it's true – you'd think that a decade or so of being apart will leave a nasty dent on Seungsoo and Baekbeom's friendship, but no. They're still as comfortable as ever, Baekbeom trapping Seungsoo in a headlock just three minutes into seeing each other again after a long time and Seungsoo not fighting back at first because he _knows_ Baekbeom will loosen his grip soon after. The two of them sticking out their tongue at each other and then yelling 'jinx!' at the very next second. Seungsoo snorting and Baekbeom filling the cracks with the cackle of his laughter. These ten inches between him and Baekhyun, the safe distance they've always maintained between each other because, _ewww, I don't want to stick with you! I might get loseritis if you touch me! Kyungsoo, what the fuck–_

"Sort of. We're in Mokpo-si now," Kyungsoo says. Doesn't answer, you can't expect things to not change even just a bit when you leave people behind. Some people won't wait for you forever. Some people will move on. "So, what are you and Numel cooking up?"

Baekhyun's body gives a tiny jerk, his eyes widening in accord. There's a bit of strain in the way he lifts his eyebrows, in the way the smile on his lips hangs awkwardly from the corners. It makes Kyungsoo shiver a little. It makes his knees shake, makes his limbs feel too sore that they might fall off anytime. Maybe it's just fatigue catching up on him, reminding him of his limits. Maybe it's just the strange air here in Mokpo-si, one he isn’t accustomed to yet, not as thick and heavy as that of Sinyuk-ri's but not exactly different. There's still a hint of the sea in the air, but the waves don't sound the same. They're twenty now, no longer the eight, ten-year-old kids they used to be. Baekhyun's hair is now a bright shade of yellow or orange or _something._ And Kyungsoo's still stuck with his black hair, bangs that cover his eyes, and a Ralts tugging on his pants.

"Hey, buddy," Baekhyun says, voice thinning into that high register of his that he always uses when he's talking to Pokemon. Kyungsoo remembers wincing before, every time he heard Baekhyun use that tone; now, it just makes him roll his eyes. "Do you want some fried chicken? Is Kyungsoo being the awful trainer that he is again and not feeding you because you won't eat anything but f–"

"Salmon," Kyungsoo interrupts. Baekhyun stops midway through reaching out, looks up at Kyungsoo with a question in the way his eyebrows lift. "You... used to feed her salmon. By the beach. Or at least you'd try to because Ralts teleports _all the time–_ "

Baekhyun snorts. Laughs, too, after a while, when Ralts gives off this tiny sound of recognition and teleports to Baekhyun's shoulder. On the pan, the oil crackles, crawls on the skin of the chicken being cooked, coats it a nice golden brown. And Ralts has both its hands on Baekhyun's cheeks, pressing against them and pulling his face closer. Baekhyun's light laughter comes to a sudden halt, melting into a hitch of a breath, and then a tiny gasp when Ralts lets out a shrill cry and bops his forehead with the top of its head.

Baekhyun's smile brings back too many memories – long walks along the shores of Sinyuk-ri, trying to keep Ralts from teleporting wherever with Numel all the time. Their toes touching whenever Baekhyun rolled over to lie on his side, blowing hot air into Kyungsoo's soaked shirt to say just above a whisper, "I hope this lasts. I hope we remain kids forever."

↮

Three years ago – that was when the great war broke out. Or the start of the imbalance, at least, when a weird group of people kept convincing others to drop their Pokeballs and stop using Pokemon. Treat them more like partners and friends than _things_ that will make their lives easier. It made sense: anything in excess was bad. People were fast becoming too dependent on their Pokemon. They made all sorts of jobs for Pokemon – movers, scanners, bomb-sniffing Growlithes. Guardians of cities that were condemned when news of a thief breaking into a bank emerged, or when even the tiniest mishap happened to trainers around the world.

Then the group of goons started using their Pokemon to _control_ humans. Alakazams were made to trick their trainers into thinking that they should just hand all of their Pokemon over to a weird organization. Noctowls were made to hypnotize people across towns, cities, trainers stuck in forests and mountains. Then Gardevoirs were made to tap into people's emotions, light a blue flame inside them and let it burn until the fire consumed all their feelings. It was the cruelest way to ruin the bonds between Pokemon and their trainers, to cause a rift between creatures that used to co-exist so harmoniously. Yet it was the most effective way, as well.

Fast forward three years and here they are now, sailing on still waters without having to worry about harsh winds. Peace and balance have already been restored after the guardian Pokemon were released back into the wild, freed from the bounds of being tied to trainers who only knew how to scare Pokemon but not earn their love and respect. Three years after and Kyungsoo can still feel the scars of all those long and tiring months, though, when he walks along the shore at ten in the evening with his hand wrapped around Ralts' Pokeball like a kid clinging to his mother’s hand, or when he runs into people and has to apologize to them at least thrice because _you're one of them, aren't you? The secret Pokemon poaching group? You look like them and– I just– I just know you're one of them and you want to get my Medicham–_

Kyungsoo looks at his Ralts now and runs a hand along its spine. It was one of the reasons Ralts asked Kyungsoo to stop it from evolving despite being in the middle of a tough fight. And it's one of the reasons why Kyungsoo keeps Ralts around, even if being in its base form has more cons than pros – it can take less hits than a fully-grown Pokemon. It can dish out less damage, serve its trainer less in battle. But then Ralts is linked with his emotions, his memories, his very being. Loyalty and friendship are what fuel Ralts powers. Knowing each other like the back of their hands makes it easier to dodge powerful attacks, makes it easier to land one powerful hit after another. It helps Ralts read him easier, like an open book, a scroll laid out on the table for easy reading. Do Kyungsoo and a little Ralts, the dynamic duo, wearing down scary dragons with years of friendship.

"No, I'm not _emoting._ Geez," he groans when Ralts looks up at him and grins. He leans closer then looks around for an audience. Baekhyun is busy closing up his stall. Baekbeom's helping his brother manage the orders. Seungsoo's still eating, savoring every bite of the hongeo-hoe and the fried chicken they've been served. He can't spare a bit of affection right now, even if he knows Ralts can see right through him, even if he's certain Ralts is aware of everything he's thinking of and feeling. There are just too many people around, and he’s in a different place. This isn’t Sinyuk-ri where he’ll know where to duck into if he was ever bullied. He’s a stranger in this place. "Don't say a thing. I'm not–"

"Either you're talking to yourself or you're talking to Ralts even if you know it she can read your emotions. Either way, you're still very weird," Baekhyun says as a greeting. His apron is rolled up in a messy bundle. Kyungsoo wants to reach out, to yank it free from Baekhyun's grasp so he can breathe a bit of order into Baekhyun's otherwise chaotic life, but he doesn't. There are years stretched keeping them apart, miles and miles of land and sea that has pushed them away from each other and lodged blank spaces between them. He can't just expect Baekhyun to not brush him away at the first contact of their limbs. If experience is anything to go by, then he's sure, he's _positive_ , that Baekhyun will be reeling him in one minute and then letting him go the next. Like a string had just snapped in him and he decided that _shit,_ I can't swim. And I don't want to drown, so I'll just let you sink deeper into the sea or even get washed away by the waves–

"What do you know about me and Ralts?" Kyungsoo replies after a while. Ralts taps an easy rhythm on his arm, as if telling him to slow down, stop now, else he'll be doing something he'll regret. And Ralts is almost always right. So he listens, gives in, saying, "Private trainer and Pokemon time. _Go away._ " Doesn't say, a lot of things have changed since you left, Byun Baekhyun, a lot of things have changed since the war and _you're_ one of them.

"We see each other for the first time in a years and that's how you talk to me?" Baekhyun snorts, even cackles. His voice is steady, unwavering. Kyungsoo tries to listen harder for lilts, cracks, an opening he can capitalize on. But maybe Baekhyun has new weak spots now that Kyungsoo has to go looking for again. " _Rude,_ man. Very rude."

"'Rude' is when you intrude a conversation _with a Pokemon,_ " Kyungsoo snarls.

"'Rude' is when you push people away just because you don't know how to talk to them," Baekhyun answers. He bumps Kyungsoo's side with his hips and makes space for himself on the concrete Kyungsoo is sitting on. "I'm still me, Soo. I'm just older now. _We're_ much older, maybe even taller," he continues, then kicks at the ground. Numel takes that as a weird sign to get out of its ball. With slow steps, Numel walks over to where Ralts is beside Kyungsoo and Ralts greets it with a faint cry. "Other than that, nothing's changed."

Kyungsoo blinks a few times then drops his gaze back to his feet. The Pokemon are busy playing a few feet away. Lost in your own world again, he tells Ralts, thinks of the same thing again and again just so Ralts won't be able to read the many layers of messages at the back of his mind – an image of the big wave that had swallowed Sinyuk-ri whole, then visual of his fallen birthplace. The entire boat ride from the island to Jindo-ri and the consuming sense of loneliness pounding on his back that time. Stepping out out of the truck and setting foot on a new place, a new home. Seeing Baekhyun on the other side of the cooker when he used to be deathly afraid of fire that didn't come from Numel. Despite deeming himself perfect to be a fire-type trainer.

"You... haven't evolved your Numel yet," he whispers after a while.

"Oh, him? Yeah." Baekhyun snorts. He nudges Kyungsoo in his side as if asking if he could move to his side even more, give him space where he could move around. Kyungsoo complies without question, and then shifts in his position so that he can see Baekhyun's face better. "He... didn't want to evolve. Probably trauma from the war. I mean, how exactly would you feel after seeing your brothers all attacking your trainer's house, right? What would you feel if you saw your trainer shielding you from – what was that, flamethrowers? Yeah, flamethrowers. Hyung had to... shield little Numel from those." He pauses for a while, whistling, then gestured for Numel to come closer. Ralts hops on its back without preamble, but Numel doesn't seem to mind. Much like how Baekhyun finds it easy, almost natural, to just let his hand fall on Kyungsoo's thigh, fingers drumming a beat on Kyungsoo's skin through the material of his pants. Kyungsoo gulps down hard. "That war made him stronger, though. Trained him now to control his fire and that not all people are bad. He just–"

Had to know whom to trust, Kyungsoo almost says, but he bites the inside of his cheek at the very last minute and lets his eyes linger on Baekhyun longer than the usual. And he waits – for Baekhyun to take a deep breath and press his lips together to a thin line, for Baekhyun to swallow hard and then breathe out into a small smile. If experience is anything to go by then this is Baekhyun trying to rearrange the words, the sentences in his head, trying to sew his thoughts together. This is Baekhyun finally getting hit by those ten long years between them, Baekhyun reassessing and recalibrating because how _do_ you talk to someone you haven’t seen in a while? How do you try to relay a message? How do you relate? “He just had to… feel comfortable with using his powers at all again?” Baekhyun continues after a while, scratching the slope of his neck. His lips are twisted to the side into a weird mix of a smile and a frown. “I guess?"

Kyungsoo laughs a little. Ten-year-old Byun Baekhyun probably would have left out the last bit, would’ve sounded different saying that. Little Byun would have shrugged, blown air at his bangs, slumped against a wall as he said it, but wouldn’t sound so uncertain. Little Byun wouldn’t ever second-guess himself. So maybe Baekhyun _has_ changed a bit. Maybe Baekhyun has become a bit more human and less of that superhero he wanted to be when they were much, much younger. Half of Kyungsoo feels strange, seeing Baekhyun like this; the other half, wondering why he’s even feeling this way.

"It just took a while. Because he's just as slow as you are," Kyungsoo teases, says in an attempt to snap himself out of his trance. Baekhyun's eyes go wide for a second, body giving a tiny jerk in accord, and then it’s gone, replaced instead by a cock of the eyebrow, a menacing smile, a hard slap on the arm followed by a couple more that leaves Kyungsoo with a familiar sting on the skin.

They spend the next two hours sitting beside each other while waiting for their brothers to finish talking. Baekhyun talks about how difficult it is moving from one place to another, having to have his bags packed all the time because what if they had to flee to the closest shelter? What if the government asked them to move away from the shorelines and move closer to the city? Kyungsoo talks about how difficult the push and pull inside of him is, but only in his head. He turns look in Baekhyun's direction, chest facing him, though, nodding at Baekhyun's every statement, every piece of information dropped. Swallows all of it for when they have to finally set off on their journey, taking separate paths but working on the same goal.

Snatches another piece of Baekhyun for himself and tucks it somewhere inside him, left of his chest. It's the same warmth that lulls him to sleep, the steady thumping in his chest the melody that rises above the sound of the waves crashing in his ears.

↮

Kyungsoo wakes up to the sound of a bunch of whatever Pokemon is rapping on his window. "Fucking Taillows," he grumbles, but makes no effort to shoo them away, anyway. Instead, he pushes his blanket down until it bundles at his feet, until he can roll off his bed and find his balance again. Until he feels the surge of electricity crawl up his arms and spark life in him, breathing a bit of fresh air into his system and making him feel alive.

He'd set his alarm last night at six in the morning, but outside the sun isn't even up too high yet. The skies are a pale shade of blue, light but not quite bright. It's almost as if summer's shying away from the morning, still wanting to get some sleep. And there are no waves rushing to shore, hoping to get one last taste of the sand before they have to pull back to the middle of the sea again.

"Not Sinyuk-ri," Kyungsoo tells himself, _reminds_ himself. In a two, three hours, he begins his journey around the whole of South Korea. In a few more hours, he won't have a permanent home, will have to carve a home out of every ground he walks on. He can't keep coming back to two years ago in Sinyuk-ri when there was nothing but peace connecting the islands with each other. It's useless. It's _stupid._

He feels a smidgen of warmth wrap around his ankle. When he looks down, he finds Ralts curled up on his foot, looking up at him with droopy eyes.

"No, you're not sleeping in. We have to be in Professor Kwon's–" He crouches, trying to pry Ralts from where it's wrapped around his ankle, but then his stomach lurches. And his skin feels as if it's being ripped from the rest of his body, like he's being chopped into all these tiny pieces and expected to put himself back together–

"Oh, hello," Seungsoo singsongs as a greeting. He turns the fire low then reaches over, running his thumb along Ralts' green hair. Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath, still trying to catch up with his senses and maybe his heart that might have ended up two feet from where he is now. He'll never get used to the feeling of traveling distances like that, not even when Ralts did it every few minutes during the war, trying to keep them from being found by the Pokemon poachers. " _Never_ make her forget how to teleport. It makes waking you up so much easier, doesn't it, babyboo?" Seungsoo grins, widening his eyes as he leans closer to where Ralts is. "Isn't that right, mhmm?"

"And I hate you, too," Kyungsoo groans. Ralts pokes the tip of Seungsoo's nose then slumps against the slope of Kyungsoo's neck, humming a little. Kyungsoo moves closer to the counter, then, switching on the coffeemaker and putting in enough ground coffee for three cups like routine. Only adds in water for two, though, because they both like their coffee really thick and dark. "Why are you up early?"

"Cooking," is Seungsoo's curt reply. Kyungsoo nudges him in his side – to make space for himself or to get more out of the conversation, Kyungsoo isn't sure. It's not even six in the morning yet; he needs more time to boot his senses. " _Hey,_ this is the last time I'm having breakfast with you here. First and last." Seungsoo reasons, frowning. He slows down in his stirring, but he doesn't loosen his grip on the handle. If anything, he grips it tighter, knuckles almost going white as he does so. He's making kimchi jjigae today. The only time Seungsoo ever drags his ass out of bed to cook is on Kyungsoo's birthday, Christmas, and New Year. Or when he's just feeling like it, when he needs something to take his mind off of certain things. All other days, he lets Kyungsoo have fun in the kitchen, simply watches from the frame of the door and only walks inside to let Kyungsoo know that the table has already been set. "I want to make it special even if you don't trust me when it comes to cooking. I mean, what if this is the key to you becoming a great trainer? Catching 'em all? What if I actually had a chance to make you ten times better than your loser self right now and make you the strongest trainer in the entire planet?"

Kyungsoo snorts. Or at least he means to, because all that comes out is a weird, strangled noise at the back of his throat. "Don't be silly. Just the whole South Korea. And I'm the best trainer in the world. You told me last night, in case you forgot," he replies, then lets his face fall forward, tucking his chin on Seungsoo's shoulder. Seungsoo laughs a little but stays in place, still stirring the stew, muscles relaxing. Kyungsoo can feel it, in the way Seungsoo's shoulders fall a little and the way he unlocks his jaw. In the way the stirring degenerates to Seungsoo just 'paddling' through the stew. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then, inhaling the scent of the spices and the subtle hint of pork. It's a nice combination, one that makes his stomach grumble and draws a sliver of laughter from deep in his chest. It makes him feel warm all over, makes the winds of summer stick to his skin so he can keep them all the way until autumn. "Spicy enough?"

"Should be," Seungsoo answers. He cocks his head to the side, resting it against Kyungsoo's own. Kyungsoo can feel the pulse in his brother's temples beat strongly against his, tapping a steady one-two rhythm. So maybe the stew isn't only for him; it's for Seungsoo, as well. Spicy food is Seungsoo's favorite cure to headaches; alternatively, his 'happy food'. "I emptied out a jar of kimchi to get this flavor, so yeah. Unless you want me to empty out the jar of gochujang, as well. Because, y'know, a blazing hot stew for a blazing hot fire trainer–"

 _Blazing hot fire trainer._ Baekhyun would be better suited for that title. He's the one with the aggressive battling style, a knack for rushing into matches without a well thought of strategy. And his Numel has always loved that – the challenge, the adrenaline rush. The spontaneity and just generally having fun while training to get tougher, _better._ Together.

"I'm choosing Treecko," Kyungsoo announces. He pulls away at the same time that Seungsoo looks over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow at him. " _What?_ I think he's a great Pokemon. Provides great defense and offense. A well-rounded Pokemon, all in all," he reasons out. He starts making the table, laying down placemats on the surface and running his palms along the sheets. On the other side of the table, Ralts is waving its arms about as if setting rhythm to the utensils it has controlled with its psychic power. The chopsticks fall to the plates in a soft 'clink'. "And I think it'll get along with Ralts pretty well. I showed Ralts a picture last night. She... sounded pretty excited."

"Was she wailing? Because she always does that," Seungsoo mumbles. When Kyungsoo throws a balled up table napkin at the back of his head, he retorts, " _Look,_ I'm just saying, Ralts does all the talking while you do all the thinking. Maybe it's easy for you to decode her language all the time but it isn't for me. I'm not well-versed in Pokespeak. I develop medicine for Pokemon, not... translating devices. It's not easy–"

"It is, when you know your Pokemon inside out," Kyungsoo retorts. He gestures for Ralts to inch closer, to stop using its powers. To just enjoy the last few moments of respite that they have before they have to leave Mokpo-si, a place they've just come to acknowledge as a new home. "It not hard at all."

Seungsoo rolls his eyes and huffs. "You're missing the point."

"Point being?"

"Point being, if you want to say something then _say it,_ " Seungsoo replies. He turns off the stove, setting the ladle down on the plate on the counter, and turns around to meet Kyungsoo in the eye. His eyebrows aren't furrowed, but his lips _are_ turned down a little at the corners. In frustration or disappointment, Kyungsoo can't tell yet. He's not sure if he wants to know. "I know you've always wanted to be a trainer but I saw you during the war, Soo. I saw what it did to you. You– You didn't want to summon Ralts even if she wanted to battle for you. You didn't want to summon _any_ of your Pokemon even if they wanted to keep you safe. The first few days of the war, you were fine and normal. _Coping,_ I guess, but when the psychics started attacking, you just–"

"I choked," Kyungsoo whispers. He tries to swallow around the thick lump of _something_ in his throat, but to no avail. His throat feels so dry and the thumping in his chest has become stronger, _louder._ He can't hear his voice above the noise inside him. He can't even feel the vibrations in his throat, can't tell if he's speaking at all or if this is Ralts again. "The psychics forced the Pokeballs open and forced my Pokemon to battle," he continues, dropping his eyes to the table. He traces figures on it – three lines, each an inch apart. A thick cloud, a symbol for an explosion. Two tear drops that are not of the same size – the smaller one is his, and the bigger one is Ralts'. It made sense: he lost his Pokemon, his partners. Ralts lost its family and friends. "It's been years, hyung. The world's safer now. Better. I'm... not the same person I used to be, so I won't–" He bites the inside of his cheek and holds his breath, letting it out only when he feels the strong pulse at the base of his throat. “The same thing won't happen to me ever again."

Seungsoo's eyebrows twitch. "Are you sure? Because whatever you feel, whatever happiness or sadness or fear you have inside you, Ralts will feel tenfold."

"I'm sure." He isn't. He balls his hands into fists, doesn't touch Ralts even if Ralts is looking up at him with wide, wide eyes. "Besides, it's time Ralts made friends that aren't Sunyoung's Magikarp or Feebas," he adds. He tries to laugh, but falls short on it when he chokes on the second bar of laughter. "It's time we both moved on."

Seungsoo gives him another long look, one that holds more questions than the previous. Why are you lying to yourself, why are you doing this, do you really think you can run away from the scars of your past so easily – Seungsoo could be asking him anything right now if he'd just part his lips. But he doesn't. Instead, he keeps staring at Kyungsoo, surveys him with a careful look before saying, "Alright. If that's what you say."

"It's almost six," Kyungsoo mumbles. He's lying; it's only half past the hour. His appointment with Professor Kwon isn't until seven in the morning, or even a bit later if Professor Kwon is still out studying Pokemon on field. "We should... probably eat now."

Seungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him then wraps his fingers around the handles of the pot. Slowly, he brings it over to where Kyungsoo is and places it on the kitchen table in a dull 'thud'.

Breakfast passes in silence, but there isn't anything that Seungsoo's gestures aren't expressing. The deep, shaky breaths are saying, "I know all kids run off on a Pokemon journey someday but times are different now." The light, upward curl of the lip, "But I'm really excited for you. Have fun! Take lots of pictures… or something." From time to time Seungsoo would glance at him, sometimes even stare and cock his head to the side as if trying to process everything, as if trying to digest this whole 'my brother's leaving home to pursue his dreams' thing. "I'll make sure to call every so often," Kyungsoo whispers, just loud enough for Seungsoo to hear. When Seungsoo lets out a loud exhale and leans back in his seat, Kyungsoo knows he's been heard and that he's finally been granted a go signal to step outside the house and into Professor Kwon's lab.

While washing the dishes, he flicks suds in Seungsoo's eyes and snickers when Seungsoo lets out a loud yelp. "You _asshole!_ " Seungsoo yells at the top of his lungs, and catches Kyungsoo in a headlock, a last ditch effort to keep Kyungsoo from moving away, to make him stay.

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Professor Kwon's laboratory is at the foot of the city, close enough to the shore that Kyungsoo can hear the waves crashing when he stops at the door. It's smaller than most buildings here, not as imposing, but admirable in its own right. There are two stone figures guarding the doors, sort of like the pillars he’s seen in footages of Pokemon gyms on television. The walls outside are covered in a glimmering silver. And there’s a nice image of the sea drawn across the surface, a reflection of the scene just a few meters from where the facility stands.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, taking in the image of the sea then lets out a long exhale. He inches closer to the doors, then, clears his throat as he approaches. He’s seen this in a number of shows before, how trainers start their journey and pick up their license from the Pokemon professor. So he announces, "Do Kyungsoo, Sinyuk-ri,” when he comes close, then steps inside the red box that appears near the door. The red bars of light scan his body and then the locks finally come off, the doors swinging open and revealing an entirely different world beyond the gates.

Ralts bursts from its Pokeball and sits on Kyungsoo's shoulder as soon as he gets inside. He looks around him, admiring the facility, the many laboratories inside. The building may not be tall, but all the labs near the entrance are caged in glass. The machines glow in different colors, and there are Pokemon clinging onto the doctors and professors while they walk along the corridors. It feels like world of its own, a universe set apart from what's happening outside. On the other side of the doors there's still a tinge of fear in people and in Pokemon, visible in the way humans flinch at the first sight of a Pokemon, but in here the thin walls between humans and Pokemon dissipate into thin air.

"Do Kyungsoo from Sinyuk-ri, is it?" comes a voice from a few feet away. Kyungsoo turns his gaze to his left, then bows as soon as he sees the badge on person's lab coat. 'Pokemon Researcher', it says in big, bold characters. And then his name – Lee Taemin. "Professor Kwon is at the back. She's just finished feeding the Pokemon here in the labs." A soft chuckle, and then, "I think you'll want to see her in her most natural state."

He's seen Professor Kwon in TV shows before, where she gives children tips on how to win a Pokemon's heart and its trust. She has always seemed... a bit distant, if not withdrawn, but Kyungsoo didn't mind it so much. She was a professor, a doctor. She had to maintain a certain level of professionalism in everything that she did. Besides, Pokemon seemed to love her, always gathered wherever she went to just marvel at her, sometimes even to latch onto her, hugging her from behind. So she couldn’t be that bad, right? Still, there was an ounce of curiosity in him, a part of him that wondered if she was anything like the way she was on television in real life, if Pokemon really did flock to her like bees to honey.

And it's the same scene that greets him now, when he enters the green room and Professor Lee shuts the door behind him with a soft 'thud'. There are a bunch of Poochyena at her feet, all wagging their tails and beaming at her. A few feet away, a Skitty is watching her behind an unassuming Nosepass. And then there's a Wingull on her head, flapping its wings and messing up her hair. She just laughs through it all, though, unmindful of the inconvenience that being flocked by all these Pokemon brings her.

"You're alone? I thought you were going to bring a friend with you," she says all of a sudden. She hasn't shifted her gaze from the Pokemon to Kyungsoo just yet. "Byun Baekhyun from Sokcho-si? Both of you are registered under Mokpo-si, though. That's the most recent information I got from my researchers, at least."

Her voice is firm, hard-edged, resolute. It betrays the smile on her lips, makes Kyungsoo curl in his toes and makes his insides turn. He feels a funny shiver runs up his spine, but soon it's replaced by a warm sensation, a palm running from the base of his neck down to the small of his back in a smooth, easy slide. "Or maybe not. I thought you were going to be late, Byun Baekhyun-ssi."

"Good morning, professor," comes Baekhyun's greeting, but Kyungsoo doesn't miss the 'almost' that Baekhyun mutters under his breath. Baekhyun slides his hand around Kyungsoo's waist, pinching him in his waist, then the warmth is gone, replaced instead by a hollow cavity in his side. It feels a bit cold. It's almost autumn now. He should get used to this. "I made it in time, didn't I? I mean, you said to be here by 7 a.m. and it's just quarter 'til–"

"This is a test," Professor Kwon answers, the corners of her mouth pulling up in accord. She ruffles one of the Poochyena's hair for one last time, then gets up her feet. The white fabric of her coat falls to her sides, makes her glow against the morning light in the room. It almost feels like they're in the set of one of her shows and that he and Baekhyun are guests. Maybe this is just a ploy, a trap to get trainers to feature in her shows.

Or maybe Kyungsoo's just reading too much into every single thing and that she really just likes it when trainers arrive early.

"I don't tell everyone about it but trainers who arrive _really early_ get dibs on... some choice special Pokemon," she continues. The smile on her lips pulls up even more, making her eyes crinkle. She saunters forward, taking a small remote from Professor Lee's hands, then presses the lone yellow button on it. "And by special, I mean I've raised them, myself. Fed them my homemade Pokeblocks. Helped them warm up to people quickly so you two won't have too much trouble to get acquainted with them." A whirring noise fills the room, then the metal panels behind his shift and slide to the side. Beside Kyungsoo, he hears Baekhyun let out a faint 'whoa' as they marvel at the sight – another room within the one they're standing in, lined with shelves upon shelves filled with books and trophies.

One of them reads 'Hero of the Year'. That one's dated the previous year. Professor Kwon discovered a new method of evolving Pokemon then and has been furthering her studies on it ever since. Kyungsoo can still recall it, that single beacon of light in the midst of all the broadcast on the war. The smiling faces of the people from the government, then Professor Kwon standing amidst them, hair pulled back in a messy bun and her round-rimmed glasses slipping off the bridge of her nose. And then the headline for that news item, popping from the bottom of the screen – 'Professor Kwon Boa of KAIST unlocks yet another secret to evolution, says it might be the key to ending this war once and for all–'

"But of course, with that comes an even greater challenge – winning their trust, their loyalty. Their love and, consequently, unlocking their full potential." She presses another button, one that lifts the glass dome from where three Pokeballs are, then gestures for them to come closer. "But I trust you two to be good trainers. I expect nothing less from the brothers of... two of the best Pokemon pharmacologists I've ever had the pleasure to work with."

You _know_ my brother, Kyungsoo wants to ask, but Baekhyun beats him to it by blurting it out in a lower voice, barely above a whisper. "You... know Baekbeom-hyung?" he asks, blinking twice as he inches closer. "I mean, Baekbeom-hyung _and_ Seungsoo-hyung? But they never–"

Kyungsoo wouldn't say that he isn't the best of friends with his brother, but Seungsoo certainly hasn't fallen short on the oversharing department. He tells Kyungsoo _everything_ – from how he got the bruise on his knee or his latest discovery when it comes to cooking potatoes. Islanders are always looking for ways to reinvent potatoes, after all. But not once has he ever mentioned sharing more than a passing glance with Professor Kwon, or even knowing her beyond the usual hi's and hello’s. Not once has Seungsoo ever mentioned _working with her_ alongside Baekbeom long enough to warrant a mention from the renowned Pokemon professor, herself.

"Let's just say I tell everyone I'm friends with to not tell anyone I'm friends with them. It's easier that way," she answers, finishing with a wink. She flicks the stray hair falling on her eyes with a finger, then fixes them with a gaze. Then she claps her hands together and beams at them, a bright smile pulling up at the corners of her mouth. "So, shall we start with the introductions? Are you ready to meet your Pokemon?"

Kyungsoo's stomach lurches. He can feel his pulse quicken at the base of his throat, the back of his elbows and knees, on the surface of his palms and the pads of his thumbs. All the warmth in his hands dissolves into light trembles of his fingers, so he shakes them off, tells himself, you can't screw this up now, Kyungsoo. This isn't the time to choke. He's been waiting for this moment for years – no, _forever._ This is his last chance at becoming the trainer he's always wanted to be. He takes a step forward, then, inching closer to the table where the Pokeballs are and clenches his fists.

The one at the far left shakes. Kyungsoo curls his toes in anticipation. That _has_ to be Treecko inside. That's got to be the Pokemon he's destined to travel with.

The other two capsules shake after a while, then eventually come to a halt. He hears the soft chuckle spilling from Baekhyun's lips just a few inches away, hears the choking sound somewhere in between. Kyungsoo parts his lips, poised to speak, but Baekhyun beats him to it, voice now steady despite the trembling of his fingers. "We're ready," Baekhyun says, then takes a deep, shaky breath. When Kyungsoo looks to his side, he finds Baekhyun looking straight at here. "Ready whenever you are."

"Alright, then." Professor Kwon taps her index finger on the table thrice, and the lock on the Pokeballs come off. "Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, you may choose a partner to accompany you on your mission from these three Pokemon."

Kyungsoo has heard all these stories before about trainers bursting into tears at the sight of their first Pokemon, has heard it from his brother, first-hand, but nothing could have prepared him for feeling heat rushing to his cheeks, then a traitorous cold wrapping around his neck in a tight, vicious grip. His throat feels so tight and dry and his chest feels heavy, and when the faint wisps of white clear to reveal three Pokemon standing on the table, he gulps down hard. They look... different from the standard starters Professor Kwon hands out, but not too far from the ones Kyungsoo has seen on television. Torchic is wearing a brighter shade of yellow, its tail a lighter orange, while Mudkip is wearing a pale purple. And Treecko's tail is red. It should be green, Kyungsoo tells himself. Treeckos have always been green all around, save for the huge red spot on its belly. And it shouldn't be giving off a peculiar glimmer, its fur sparkling under the light here in the laboratory.

"These are rare," Baekhyun mutters under his breath. He looks up at Professor Kwon, then at Kyungsoo. "Aren't these–"

"Alternate-colored Pokemon. _Shiny_ Pokemon," Kyungsoo finishes. He takes a deep breath then inches closer, trying to get a better look at Treecko. It still looks normal, for the most part, but– "How... How did you get them, professor?"

"Months of careful breeding," she answers, smiling as she ends. She walks closer to the three then runs a hand along Torchic's head. "That's why I said they're special. The amount of time and effort you put into trying to breed for these alternate-colored Pokemon is just... You could say you get a bit too attached to them after a while." She chuckles. "So I'm entrusting them with trainers who _I_ can trust to deliver. To take care of them. Trainers who... I may or may not have seen grow through the years."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. He can still remember that premiere challenge back in school, when they were still too young to know that normal-type Pokemon can't touch ghost-types and vice versa. Professor Kwon was the referee then, and she was also the one who awarded ribbons to the trainers who scored the most number of wins during the challenge.

Baekhyun placed first. Kyungsoo was only second. It was then that Kyungsoo admitted to himself that yes, knowing the theory behind battling wasn't enough. You have to practice all the time, twenty-four hours a day if you can. Baekhyun spent all the time he had after finishing homework doing laps with his Pokemon, exploring places with them. Sure, he had to slow down from time to time because Numel was a slowpoke, but Numel always tried its best to catch up.

Real training that didn't just involve battling with other Pokemon and with other trainers – that was what led Baekhyun to the top. In their final battle in the premiere challenge, Baekhyun's last Pokemon was a Taillow and Kyungsoo's was a Geodude. In theory, Kyungsoo was supposed to win – victories were one part type-advantage and two parts real battling, after all. But Baekhyun didn't give up, kept telling his Taillow to get up, get back up and press on. _C'mon, Taillow, I know you can do it! Remember what you'd do when you're picking fruit off trees? Remember how you'd focus on the weakest part of the fruit–_

"I lost Taillow during the war," Baekhyun mentions. He takes a deep breath then presses his lips together in a thin, thin line. "And... I guess Kyungsoo lost his Geodude, as well."

Kyungsoo tries to smile. He looks up at Professor Kwon, and then replies with a curt nod. "Only Ralts survived the attack. She... actually got pretty lucky. She kept trying to take us somewhere safe and accidentally teleported to a Pokemon Center."

Professor Kwon snorts. "Gotta love Teleport. I'd say it's the best move ever."

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek, trying to keep the words at bay. He catches the soft snort that Baekhyun makes, sees him smiling then frowning and then smiling again, until he gives in to the surge of laughter inside him. "Yeah, best move ever."

"One that none of these three can learn," Professor Kwon mentions. She laughs a little. "Go on, move closer. You can try to talk to them, if you want, just to get a feel of who you think will be able to get along with and can help you in your journey."

Baekhyun makes the first move, taking one big step forward until he's only a few inches away from the table. He approaches Torchic first, cocking his head to the side as he examines the Pokemon. A blazing hot Pokemon for a trainer with inextinguishable spirit – Torchic would probably be the best match for Baekhyun. But then Torchic pecks the tip of Baekhyun's nose and Baekhyun falls flat on his ass, massaging his nose as soon as he regains balance. "Okay, definitely not Torchic," Baekhyun grumbles, then moves to his left. "How about–"

"I choose Treecko," Kyungsoo blurts out. He moves forward, then extends his hand in Treecko's direction. "If Treecko would like to come with me, at least. I... don't want to force it to accompany me on my journey if it doesn't want to."

Professor Kwon cocks an eyebrow at him. His stomach lurches in response, does this funny tumble that does very little to still the wild thumping in his chest. Trainers do that, right, when they really feel strongly about a Pokemon? Fight for what they want and what they think is right, but still leave room for consideration and thought? Kyungsoo can still remember Seungsoo telling him before how he managed to win the right to catch Slakoth – he insisted to the other trainer that he got to the field first, found Slakoth first. That he'd been waiting behind the tree from evening 'til five in the morning the following day just to catch that Pokemon.

Fast forward years after and Slakoth is now a Slaking, working hard despite it's habit of, well, slacking off. It's different from most Slaking that Baekhyun knows. This one is uniquely Seungsoo's.

"Well–" Professor Kwon begins then lets her voice drop to a hum. Beside Kyungsoo, Baekhyun shifts a little, then yelps when Mudkip starts nuzzling the back of his hand. Baekhyun shrieks when Mudkip takes his hand in his mouth, but soon his voice dissolves into a faint 'huh', and the fear in the way he scrunches his face eases into a light furrow of the eyebrows. "I think the Pokemon have decided for the two of you."

Kyungsoo looks back at Treecko, then smiles when Treecko starts tapping the back of his hand the short wooden stick it's holding. "You know how to approach Treeckos. You've done your research. Well done," Professor Kwon says after a while. She nods in his direction, then gives the underside of Treecko's jaw a light scratch. Treecko gives off this thin, shrill sound, but it isn't riveting. If anything, it awakens Kyungsoo's senses, helps make him feel more awake and alive. "This particular Treecko taps people with the stick in its hand only when he feels safe with them. Letting it smell the back of your hand before reaching over to touch it has made it grow accustomed to your presence faster than it normally would. And this has happened with only two people."

"Just two?" Kyungsoo asks. Soon, Treekco traps the stick between his lips and reaches for Kyungsoo's hands with his own tiny ones. "You and?"

"A good friend," Professor Kwon answers. She gives Treecko one last pat on the head, then turns to look in Baekhyun's direction. "And it looks like this Mudkip has finally met the right trainer for him. I'm pretty sure she can sense all the energy in your body. This is the first time in months that I've seen her this happy."

Baekhyun's still struggling with getting his hand out of Mudkip's mouth, but he's laughing now. "Oh, this Mudkip's a female? Cool," Baekhyun says. The corners of his mouth pull up into a grin, but soon disappear when Mudkip hits his other arm with its tail. "Well, yeah, I can feel _her_ energy. She'd deal a great amount of damage with a Bite attack, I can tell," Baekhyun manages to say between hiccupped yelps, and soon he's taking Mudkip into his arms and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. "Except she'll never learn Bite, for some weird reason. Swampert gets teeth after a while! Why can't a tiny Mudkip learn Bite early on?"

Professor Kwon laughs a little. "Maybe it can, now. The war has changed a lot of things. Pokemon had to adapt to the changes to survive. And then there's the discovery of the megalith. That changes a lot of things." She calls Torchic back to its ball, then presses the middle button for the two other Pokeballs until the balls have shrunk to half the normal size. "This is why you've been summoned here: to find out what has changed since the balance was restored. To see if Pokemon respond to humans the same way that they did before, and if there's anything that we can do to help keep the peace between Pokemon and humans." She inches closer to the two, handing them the small Pokeballs, then clasps her hands in front of her. "I'm... Well, I'm not old, but I'm bound to my responsibilities here in the laboratory and to the modern evolution research program. There isn't time to go around to study these changes. And maybe I've been exposed to Pokemon so much already that I might the miss the nuances that a fresh pair of eyes will be able to spot easier. So I'm entrusting this responsibility with the two of you, and I trust that your new partners will be able to help you out in this mission. They will be there to protect you from harm. But remember to treat them as your friends, partners, not just tools to win battles and badges with."

Baekhyun gulps down hard. "We would never–"

"It's just a reminder, little Byun," Professor Kwon begins then gives Baekhyun's hair a light fluff. "Because some people promise never to exploit their partners, but eventually they get consumed by power that their desire for something greater consumes them. And consumes every good thing about them, as well."

"We'll do our best to fulfill our mission," Kyungsoo says, then. He steadies his arm when Treecko begins to climb it, the Pokemon's small feet leaving a smidgen of heat on every part of Kyungsoo that they touch. "And we'll try to be the best trainers that we can be."

"Good enough," Professor Kwon says, then gives their shoulders a light tap. She digs her hands in her pockets then retrieves two red slabs the size of her hand. "You will need a PokeDex to record Pokemon sightings with. It's connected to our system, so you won't have to check back with me too often unless you so decide. Everything else is up to you. It's ideal that you catch the Pokemon so we can study them better, if you do find huge changes to their composition or their behavior, but again – it's your call."

Professor Kwon presses another button, this time pulling out a small drawer from a side of the table. She takes two more gadgets from it, two pieces of technology that look like wristwatches, except with a bigger face for the actual watch. “And you’ll need these, as well. The PokeGear.” She hands them a piece each, then adds, “It functions as a phone, a map, a browser if you ever find a use for it – it’s basically your means of communicating with trainers across the globe. And with me, as well, of course. My contact’s already there."

Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow at Professor Kwon then nods in thought as he studies the Gear in his hands. “Pretty nifty,” he mumbles, and then slaps it on his wrist, securing the gadget in a tight grip. “And also a bit bulky?"

“Function over form, Byun,” Professor Kwon groans. “You’re exactly like your brother."

“Not–"

“Maybe a bit better. He’s a pain in the neck.” She shakes her head and breathes out, but her breath soon fades into light laughter. "I'm really grateful you agreed to do this, at all. Most trainers your age aren't so keen on setting out on a journey anymore, especially after the war."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. A few months ago, back when SInyuk-ri hadn't been washed out by the tsunami yet, he probably wouldn't have been too sold on the idea of going around the country to collect information on Pokemon. It felt nice, being isolated from the noise, not knowing too much about the effects of the war on the country, but Ralts kept picking up on the emotions of people escaping to their tiny island. They carried emotions with them, all these fears that crippled Ralts to the point that Kyungsoo had to cradle it in its sleep every single night. So Kyungsoo wondered, what exactly were these people going through? Why was the League calling for trainers and asking them to battle with the gym leaders around the world? Why did they have to unite against these forces of danger when none of these evils were able to cross the water, reaching Sinyuk-ri and clothing it in a thick sheet of darkness?

But that was months ago. Things are different now. He wants to be _that_ person who will make sure that all his Pokemon are safe, that Ralts won't have to cry itself to sleep every single night. A trainer who might be able to fully restore peace in the whole world with the help of a few more trainers who are just as determined and foolish as he is.

"I think we owe a lot to our Pokemon," Baekhyun says out of the blue. Kyungsoo turns to his side, head tilted just a little, then furrows his eyebrows as if urging Baekhyun to go on. "They protected us from the war, kept us safe. I mean, if it weren’t for them then we'd probably be toast. You can't expect to survive a... Hyper Beam or something from the legends. So it's only right that we give back to them, somehow." Mudkip pulls away, finally letting go of Baekhyun's hand. It climbs onto his shoulder and tries to balance itself there, but eventually falls into Baekhyun's arms. "I mean, that's what teamwork is all about, right? Watching each other's back?"

Professor Kwon laughs. "You two haven't changed," she whispers, voice just barely above a whisper. The hard upward pull on the corners of her mouth softens into an easy smile. It's gone as quickly as it surfaces, though, because the next thing Kyungsoo knows Professor Kwon has slipped into her signature 'professor' look again – a tight-lipped smile making her lips curl, a light upward tug at the corners of her mouth. Eyebrows slanted up as if in a challenge, as if she's asking, are you sure you think you won't let me down? People make and break promises all the time. What makes you different? What makes you real trainers– "If you're itching to get started on earning badges while doing research, I recommend going north-east and stopping over at Muan-gun. You'll find lots of Pokemon that can help you in your journey. And they have an excellent selection of sweet potatoes and berries there. You'll want to grab some for yourself and for your Pokemon."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Cracks his knuckles, too, and grips the Pokeball tight in his left hand. "Are you ready?" he asks Treecko, voice just barely above a whisper, and Treecko nods in response. Kyungsoo can feel it, the surge of heat to Treecko's face pressed to his cheek, and the shift of Treecko's muscles. It's almost as if it's saying, come on, trainer, what are you waiting for? Shouldn't we be going around for a journey now? Shouldn't we be doing _something?_ So Kyungsoo nods to himself, recalls Treecko to its Pokeball, then turns to Professor Kwon with a small smile on his lips.

"We'll be off to Muan-gun, professor," Kyungsoo begins. He offers her a curt bow then does the same to Baekhyun. He looks away at the very next second, but not quite fast enough to miss the light furrow of Baekhyun's eyebrows, or the way Baekhyun juts out his bottom lip like he wants to say _something_ but can't find the right words for it yet. It makes his stomach lurch. "Thank you for the Pokemon and the Dex. I promise to keep in touch."

"You do that," Professor Kwon replies. She reaches over, giving his arm a light squeeze, then continues. "You, Baekhyun, any plans?"

Baekhyun drops his gaze from where he'd been staring at Kyungsoo earlier to the Pokeball in his hand. Taking a deep breath, he surfaces with a smile. "I plan to challenge Kyungsoo to a battle."

Professor Kwon snorts. "In true rival fashion, _of course._ " To Kyungsoo, she says, "Will you indulge him? I have a healing center right here. We can heal your Pokemon back to full health after the battle."

Kyungsoo shifts in his position, facing Baekhyun with all of his body now and with his eyes locked onto Baekhyun's own. The last time they stood opposite each other as trainers, trainers whose purpose was to battle and make their Pokemon stronger, was years ago, just a few days after they turned ten. The new ruling on people receiving their trainer license at the age of eighteen had already been implemented then but Baekhyun was itching to battle so they thought, why not hold an informal one by the shore? Baekbeom offered to be the referee, but Seungsoo shook his head as soon as Baekbeom finished his statement. Told him, "That's not fair. Of course you'll be ruling in favor of your brother." So they pulled in some passerby and their brothers kept telling the poor guy to be fair, to not play favorites. _I cook really good kimchi jjigae so if you're craving for one, I could always– Y'know–_ Baekbeom kicked Seungsoo in the calf at that, and Baekhyun and Kyungsoo resolved to themselves that maybe it was a bad idea to get their brothers involved in their match.

That was too long ago. Baekhyun still wore his hair in a ponytail that time. He was still crushing on the Kim Joonmyun, one of the best trainers in school at that time and possibly the best trainer from Sinyuk-ri that the village has seen in years. Those modern damage trackers hadn't even been invented yet when that happened. They just relied on gut feel, the trainer's connection with their Pokemon. Had to keep track of every shift of their Pokemon's muscles to see if the critters were close to giving out and had to be recalled to their Pokeballs.

Baekhyun won the match with his Numel, after Ralts took a burn from Numel's Ember. "That's not fair!" Kyungsoo remembers himself exclaiming them. He recalls taking Ralts in his arms, telling it to not use Teleport anymore, he can rush to the nearest Pokemon Center, _just hang on in there, Ralts. Hang on for me, now–_

"What d'you say, Soo? This is your chance to redeem yourself," Baekhyun says. He wiggles his eyebrows, then grins. His canines are peeking from the corners of his mouth. And his smile reaches his eyes, makes the corners crinkle and pulls up his cheeks. It lifts the years on Baekhyun's features a little, and all of a sudden Baekhyun looks years younger. Sort of like he's fourteen going on fifteen but he still wants to be seen as a ten-year-old. It makes Kyungsoo's insides turn, makes him taste blood and metal in his mouth. He gulps down hard. "Unless you don't have enough faith in your Treecko and you think you're _a hundred percent sure_ you can't beat me this time because you're already rusty–"

"I'll battle with you," Kyungsoo blurts out. He bites the inside of his cheek to– To keep himself from saying more, from saying too much? To keep himself from grinning? He isn't sure yet. All he's certain of right now is that Treecko's tugging at his shirt and telling him, I want to battle. I want to beat the crap out of that trainer. _We have to work together to make this happen._ "You better be prepared to lose."

Baekhyun snorts. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks he sees a peculiar glimmer in Baekhyun's eyes but it's gone at the blink of an eye. And then Baekhyun's grinning again, wearing that same boyish smile he fashions whenever he challenges trainers to a battle, best of three, winner takes all.

"Let's take this to the field, then," Professor Kwon says. She pushes back her glasses on the bridge of her nose, then cocks her head to the back. "This way."

The battlefield looks... nothing like the ones they see on television or in posters. There's nothing here but an expanse of grass, then a small box where spectators can observe the match. _Maybe._ Kyungsoo makes his way to the far side of the field, then, and crouches so that Treecko can get down from his shoulder. "You like it here?" he asks, running his hand along the slope of Treecko's back. Treecko nods in response. "Nothing like playing on a grassy field to mark your first battle, right?"

"Enough with the pep talk!" Baekhyun calls out from the other side of the field. His Mudkip is dancing on its tiny feet, stopping only to look back at Baekhyun and tackle his foot. "Mudkip– _Relax,_ buddy, the match hasn't started yet– Mudkip, Jesus, will you stop _attacking my leg–_ "

Kyungsoo laughs a little. Blazing hot Fire-type trainer Byun Baekhyun, succumbing to the quirks of his little Mudkip. This is a wave Baekhyun will have to learn to ride and conquer in this match. And while he's never been fond of the water, he loves the unpredictable. He loves challenges.

"Both sides, ready!" Professor Kwon raises her hands in the air. Slowly, Kyungsoo counts down from three, the thumping in his chest only growing stronger with each passing second. "In three, two, one–"

The soft sound of a bell rings in the background. A thin white panel pops out from behind Professor Kwon, and the characters for 'start' flash in the middle of the screen.

Kyungsoo gulps hard. A few feet away, Treecko stomps its feet on the ground, then looks over its shoulder. Treecko gives Kyungsoo a nod, then lunges forward.

It's showtime.

↮

Kyungsoo has never experienced a battle as intense as this in his entire life.

The rules were simple: they were to use just one Pokemon even if they had one other Pokemon in their arsenal. It gave Kyungsoo the upper hand – type advantage was something he loved having when battling against _any_ and every single trainer he's ever encountered. Baekhyun's familiarity with Mudkip's moves and skills was something... something he hadn't imagined, though. Sure, Baekhyun was just as dedicated as he was when it came to knowing every single thing about Pokemon, but he was calling out orders like he and Mudkip have been battling alongside each other for months – no, _years_ already.

"Hit him with a Growl, Mudkip!" Baekhyun calls out now, his hands balled into fists and his eyebrows furrowed. "C'mon, buddy, you can do it! One more time–"

Treecko takes a deep breath and stutters a few steps back. Its knees aren't weakening yet, but with the battle lasting this long already and these Pokemon not being accustomed to battling yet, Kyungsoo can tell that Treecko's close to hitting its limit. Mudkip seems to be slowing down, as well, taking longer than the usual to reach Treecko to launch an attack. Kyungsoo uses this as an opportunity, then, tells Treecko, "Use your tail to dodge it then hit her with a Pound!"

Treecko makes a sound at the back of its throat, then rushes forward. It's almost as if it's saying, well, you read my mind. I kinda like you, trainer.

It takes no more than a second for Treecko to leap on its feet and charge towards Mudkip. What the _fuck,_ Kyungsoo wants to mutter, but part of him feels as if Treecko knows what its doing, knows Mudkip more than Baekhyun does that it had enough courage to come too close before dodging as instructed by his trainer. A few more steps then Mudkip pauses in its tracks, opening its mouth now, and that's when Treecko bounces on its tail, the stream of sound Mudkip releases narrowly missing hitting Treecko. "And... go!" Kyungsoo calls out at the same time that Treecko pushes itself forward, diving straight into Mudkip. It's a risky move – Treecko might end up crashing into the ground if it ever miscalculates – but Mudkip's slow enough for the chance of Treecko's attack not hitting to be slim. Treecko lands a clean hit on Mudkip, sending it skidding back in Baekhyun's direction, but ends up falling on its tail and lets out a sharp cry.

"Treecko!" Kyungsoo yells. He narrows his eyes, trying to check for any major wounds or bruises. Part of Treecko's tail looks swollen. Its legs are bruised. And Mudkip's getting back up, knees shaking but still managing to hold the rest of its body up. "Treecko, are you alright? Can you still fight?"

Treecko holds the stick in its mouth by his right hand and waves it in the air. Kyungsoo can't tell yet if this means its waving the white flag or it can take a couple more hits, no big deal. But he knows better than to push a Pokemon to its limit, knows better than to force his Pokemon to go into battle just for the sake of getting even with another trainer. "Professor, Treecko's tail is _swollen–_ "

Treecko chucks the stick at Kyungsoo and narrows its eyes at him, as if aiming a Leer attack his way. It shouldn't work on humans, but Kyungsoo feels his knees shake a little, feels his insides turn and feels his pulse beat strongly at the back of his elbows. The voice at the back of his head says, have a little faith in him. Treecko's a strong Pokemon. You just have to believe in it a bit more. And Treecko's eyes are saying, you know, whatever the voice inside you is saying, it's right.

"He's more stubborn than most Pokemon, I forgot to tell you," Professor Kwon calls out, chuckling. "But I guess you know that now."

"I figured," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. Mudkip starts dancing again, recovering from the damage it had taken earlier, and lets out a sharp cry. "Alright. Treecko, run around Mudkip and don't stop!"

Treecko narrows its eyes at him for a moment but obeys, anyway, a hint of hesitation in the way it stutters its first few steps. Soon, it's circling Mudkip, running around and slowly lifting blades of grass on the path it runs on. If Treecko was participating in a Pokemon Contest instead of a battle then Kyungsoo's sure they'll be scoring huge points for this – a simple attack spurring a pretty ring of leaves from plain grass. But they aren't. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun are battling it out for a chance to either even out the score or for Baekhyun to nab another win. Mudkip is trying to follow Treecko's movement with its eyes, trying to catch it by the ankle so it can stop Treecko from using the leaf blades to attack Mudkip. And Treecko's going even faster, its figure disappearing into a blur of bright green as it speeds around Mudkip.

On the other side of the field, Baekhyun groans. "Stop it with Tackle!" he calls out, and Kyungsoo hears the quick shift of feet from the vacuum that Treecko has created.

"Bounce on your tail and use Leer, now!"

The blur of green fades as Treecko jumps on its tail, soaring above Mudkip and narrowing its eyes at its opponent. "Don't look–" Baekhyun yells, but too late – Mudkip has already shifted its attention from the flurry of glass blades attacking it to Treekco's imposing figure just a few feet above it. Mudkip falls back to the ground as it makes eye contact with Treecko, letting out a loud wail as the attack hits, and that's when Treecko allows itself to fall to the ground, crashing head first into Mudkip's belly.

Kyungsoo gulps hard. Clenches his fists even tighter as the swirl of smoke slowly thins and dissipates into think air. Baekhyun is shaking, too, and his eyes grow wider as the thick blanket of smoke clears. It makes Kyungsoo's stomach lurch, makes acid crawl up his throat and pound at his chest until he coughs out whatever feeling it is that has taken over him and breathes out in dry heaves.

Treecko's down on one knee, and Mudkip has passed out on the grass. From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Baekhyun's shoulders falling forward for a moment, his lips parting for the briefest second. And then Baekhyun's standing tall again, approaching Mudkip in slow, measured steps. He's dragging his feet. He hates that; it slows him down even if all he wants is to rush into the next mission, the next leg of the journey.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Defeat is essential to improvement. He knows that very well.

"The winner is Treecko!" Professor Kwon announces. Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk, pulling him out of the cavern of his thoughts. She turns to Kyungsoo with a small smile, then adds, "Congratulations. You've nailed Treecko's fighting style on your first battle with it." A wink, and then, "Good job!"

Treecko pushes itself back on its feet, then turns to look over its shoulder. Its eyes are weak and the rest of its body is shaking, but the smile on its lips steals all of Kyungsoo's attention and makes him push himself forward, inch closer, run to wherever Treecko is to take Treecko in his arms. The last time he felt this way was when Ralts took down three Koffings and a Muk during the war, but back then the fear was far more overwhelming than the relief. "Good job," he whispers in Treecko's ear now, then runs his hand up and down the slope of Treecko's back. "Good job, partner."

Treecko makes a tiny sound at the back of its throat. Then it's pecking at the side of Kyungsoo's face – to push him away or as a sign of adoration, Kyungsoo can't tell yet. So he settles for a mix of both, pulling away and giving Treecko a pat on the head, instead.

"Treecko, return," he says, and then slips the Pokeball in his pocket. It lands in the pouch in a soft 'clink', crashing against Ralts' Pokeball. The two shake in his pocket for a while, until Kyungsoo feels a familiar heat inch closer to him and a shadowy figure stop just a few inches away. He looks up, then, meets Baekhyun's gaze. There's a hint of a smile there, in the way the corners of Baekhyun's eyes crinkle, in the subtle upward curl of his lips. In the soft 'heh' that spills from Baekhyun's lips before Baekhyun reaches out to give Kyungsoo's hair a light ruffle.

"Not bad," Baekhyun says, voice barely above a whisper. He presses down on Kyungsoo's scalp, giving it a light massage then pulling at Kyungsoo's hair. "So you've finally decided to start attacking Pokemon, huh? Done with using the ol' hyperdefensive style?"

Kyungsoo snorts. Rolls his eyes, too, as he scours the surface for a response. There are a number of things he can tell Baekhyun – 'not bad' isn't the best comment because he did pretty darn well, his old style was not hyperdefensive, _hyperdefensive isn't even a word._ And Baekhyun should stop pulling at his hair _and_ pulling him closer because what is he trying to achieve? If he wants to get even then he should challenge Kyungsoo to another battle like a real trainer, earn another victory fair and square.

Kyungsoo says none of those. Instead, he replies, "Mudkip was great. You made a great pick." He stands from where he's kneeling on the field, then straightens his clothes. Baekhyun hasn't pulled away yet, but he has dropped his hand to Kyungsoo's shoulder, the pads of his fingers brushing against the underside of Kyungsoo's jaw somewhere along the way. "You should give her a treat once she recovers from battle. She seems like the type who'd like a bit of pampering."

Baekhyun widens his eyes for a moment, and then he's furrowing his eyebrows. It's almost as if he's trying to decipher something when there's nothing to else to see, nothing to read between the lines. "You don't know her like I do," Baekhyun mumbles in response, then gives Kyungsoo's cheek a light pinch. "You don't even know me anymore."

It's not as if you're the easiest person to figure out, Kyungsoo wants to say. If Baekhyun were a Pokemon then he'd be a fucking Ditto – he can be anyone, anything. He's unpredictable. Maybe Baekhyun's on a kick again, still high with the thirst for vengeance after that loss, and he's trying to win this battle by throwing words at Kyungsoo. Maybe he's just tired. And tired, worn out people say weird, stupid things sometimes, like, "Don't ever think I forget things easily." Kyungsoo takes a sharp, shaky breath through his teeth, then amends, "I remember everything I've ever studied. It's not as if you know her that much–"

"Including people?" Baekhyun says, interrupting.

"Huh?"

"You remember everything, including stuff you discover about people?"

Baekhyun parts his lips. If experience and years of friendship are anything to go by then Kyungsoo's certain Baekhyun will be trapping his bottom lip between his teeth. Nibbling on it for minutes or until he feels it get sore. Baekhyun has a scar on his left ear from where he'd been pecked by his Taillow when he was seven. And Baekhyun never stays angry for too long because it just takes too much effort to stay mad. So instead Baekhyun would reach out to give people's arms a squeeze as a sign of an apology, in lieu of words he can't string together just yet.

"Everything," Kyungsoo answers. He drops his eyes to the gentle swell of Baekhyun's lips when Baekhyun starts worrying his bottom lip. 2-1 in his favor now, and Baekhyun doesn't even know it. "I find it hard to forget."

Baekhyun leans in. Hovers for a moment with his lips parted just a little and then shuts his mouth again, his lips pressed in a straight line. "Maybe there's a class for that. You love... studying stuff," Baekhyun murmurs, then pulls away with an easy smile, just a light upward tug on the corners of his mouth, reaching the corners of his eyes and making them crinkle. It makes the pulse in Kyungsoo's palms quicken, grow stronger. Strong enough that he can feel his pulse at the back of his ears, his knees, the insides of his elbows. Strong enough that if he tries to speak, he's sure his voice will crack. "Great battle back there. You got pretty lucky."

"That was pure skill."

"You got lucky mastering that skill in such a short period of time, then." Baekhyun punctuates his sentence with a wink, then recalls Mudkip to its Pokeball. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some stuff to take care of and start my journey to becoming a Pokemon master–"

Baekhyun doesn't leave at once, though. He stays there for a few more minutes, until Mudkip is completely healed and Professor Kwon has sent them off on their journey. He sits in silence with Kyungsoo, their thighs pressed together as he draws circles on the back of his palm. White noise like this always gets Baekhyun, makes him feel a bit less comfortable in his own skin and leads him to entertain too many thoughts – what if Mudkip sustained really serious injuries during the fight? What if he was supposed to withdraw Mudkip sooner? What if he loses Mudkip right here, right now? He isn't saying anything, simply chewing on air and locking and unlocking his jaw every so often, but Kyungsoo hasn't spent years memorizing Baekhyun's quirks for nothing. He has this tiny library of Baekhyun things filed at the very back of his mind, along with memories of Sinyuk-ri. And this strange calm, this stillness in Baekhyun's waters means there's something brewing at the back of his mind, strange thoughts that might be keeping him from saying anything and everything.

Ralts comes popping out of its Pokeball, then gives Baekhyun's cheek a gentle nudge. "She says not to worry about Mudkip," Kyungsoo whispers. He drops his eyes to his own hands on his thighs when he catches Baekhyun looking at him from the narrow slits of his bangs. "That Mudkip will be up and about again in a few minutes but you'll have to be extra careful with how she balances herself using her hind legs."

"That's bullshit," Baekhyun tells Kyungsoo. To Ralts, he says, "Really? No serious injuries?"

Ralts shakes its head. Presses the red crown on its head against Baekhyun's chin, too, then gives Baekhyun's chin a light nuzzle. Ralts does that when it wants it trainer to feel what it's feeling, when its powers, no matter how strong, cannot translate what it feels into something more tangible. Something that can be felt but doesn't hit the trainer until hours after, when he's alone in a room and dusting off his Pokeballs. Or when Kyungsoo's walking along the shore with his hands deep in his pockets and Ralts slumped against the slope of his neck, whispering in his ear, _you know you can tell me anything, right? You know I can feel what you're feeling._

"Yeah," Kyungsoo whispers. Ralts disappears from where it was perched on Baekhyun's shoulder earlier, sitting on Kyungsoo's lap now. Kyungsoo offers Baekhyun a small smile. "Besides, your Mudkip's tough. I'm sure it can take any attack that comes its way."

Baekhyun looks to his side and meets Kyungsoo's gaze. His eyes aren't carrying that same glint, the same peculiar glimmer that always breathes life into Baekhyun's features, but the smile on his lips keeps tugging up at the corners of his mouth, blooming into something bigger. Brighter. "As stubborn as her trainer," Baekhyun mutters, then nudges Kyungsoo in his side. He rests his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder. "Which makes it very stubborn."

And strange, Kyungsoo wants to say. And weird and hard to figure out. He keeps his mouth shut, lips pressed to a thin line. Instead, he doesn't shrug Baekhyun off, doesn't pull away even when the weight of Baekhyun's body slumped against his becomes a bit too heavy for comfort.

Baekhyun pushes himself off the bench as soon as Mudkip and Treecko meet them outside the clinic. His eyes are still heavy and his lips are jutted out in a small pout, but the fatigue lifts as soon as Mudkip climbs into his arms and lets out a shrill cry. "I'll beat you the next time we see each other," Baekhyun says, then gives Kyungsoo a small salute. Mudkip tries its best to imitate Baekhyun, but gives up halfway through trying to make its foreleg reach its head. It makes Kyungsoo laugh a little, but he swallows the sound as soon as Baekhyun continues, "So you and Treecko better be ready for a challenge."

" _You_ be prepared to take a beating. Treecko and I are unstoppable."

Baekhyun parts his lips, leaning forward, then takes a step back. "We'll see about that," he says, then turns around without another word.

Kyungsoo watches as Baekhyun moves farther away, the bright light filtering through the narrow opening of the doors and washing Baekhyun out. He doesn't tear his gaze from the sight just yet, only squints when the light becomes a bit unbearable, and watches as Baekhyun's figure disappears behind the doors. This is it, he muses, the start of their mission. The fulfillment of their dreams that have once been put on hold. So he takes a deep breath, tells himself, I'll reach the end faster than he can, I'll make it to the top faster. I'll beat him. He clenches his fists. He looks over his shoulder to give Professor Kwon a curt nod, then begins his journey forward, to the neighboring county of Muan. And he clips the two Pokeballs that were once in his pockets to his belt, ready for when he encounters a Pokemon in the wild, ready for their adventure.

Kyungsoo takes another step forward and shuts the doors behind him.

His Pokemon journey has just begun.

↮

Being a Pokemon trainer entails being alert all the time. You'll never know when you'll walk into a trap, after all, or when a Pokemon will come tackling you to the ground for encroaching its territory. Kyungsoo gets that, the need to be prepared at all times. He's already learned his lesson before, back in Sinyuk-ri when he was still six and he and Baekhyun thought it would be 'cool' to swim with a school of Magikarp.

Only five minutes in did the Magikarp realize that they were swimming with humans and not their fellow Pokemon. And only five minutes in did he and Baekhyun realize that the stuff people say about Magikarp being harmless? Not true. Not true at all.

Kyungsoo feels his knees giving up an hour into walking to Muan-gun. The path is a branch of tiny passageways, with Kyungsoo having to duck his head every so often for fear of running into a tree branch or accidentally waking up a Trevenant. Or maybe even walking into a Victreebel's trap. He's only ever run into a couple of Wurmples, and the worst that had happened was the Wurmples shooting String Shots to his ankles to keep him from moving. Luckily, Treecko was quick enough to ward them off and hack at the thick sheet of silk binding Kyungsoo's feet together. And Ralts managed to teleport them away from group of Cascoons that Kyungsoo almost fell onto when he lost his balance.

He takes a deep breath and checks his PokeGear. It's close to lunchtime now. Maybe he should've had something to eat before leaving Mokpo-si, but hey – dreams wait for no one. Pokemon, the wild ones, don't wait for anyone, either. On the up side, he's already caught a Wurmple and a Shroomish. He could've caught a Zigzagoon, as well, but all the Zigzagoon he's encountered kept running away even after he'd spent a good five, ten minutes just creeping up behind them and trying not to make a single noise.

He cranes his neck. Muan-gun should be another two, three hours' walk from where he is. If he had a bike, it would be much easier to travel from one place to another, but all trainers go through this. Traveling by foot is part of the experience, after all.

He takes a break another hour after, when the rain starts pouring down again. Just a light drizzle, nothing that should alarm him, but the ground is damp enough that it's almost impossible to drag one's feet from one step to another. He takes shelter under a tree, then, one that looks a lot like a banana plant but doesn't quite look like a Tropius. Safe enough. Treecko comes bursting out of its Pokeball and he lets it coax Ralts to come out, letting the two play around for a bit. They've worked hard, after all, earning him three Pokedex entries already and learning new moves that they can use for their succeeding battles. And the view here is nice – there's a pond close by, and the waters look still and calm, rippled only by the raindrops slowly falling to the surface.

"Stay close by," he tells his Pokemon, then gives Treecko a light pat on the head. Ralts bops Treecko with the red crown on its head, and Treecko's eyes widen in an instant for a reason Kyungsoo isn't sure if he wants to know.

He snorts. Pokemon romance isn't so new to him. He's seen trainers with two Pokemon that are attached at the hip, two Pokemon that won't go out in battle without the other. That's how the champion of the Kanto region, Shim Changmin, battles – with Clefable and Salamence always alongside each other, helping each other out and carrying each other from one victory to another.

The sound of leaves rustling catches his ears. He looks to his side, then over his shoulder when he hears footsteps not too far away. He curls in his toes when he feels his stomach do this funny tumble. Maybe someone's just taken shelter under one of the trees, just like him. Maybe that third trainer Professor Kwon was talking about earlier finally got her Torchic and set off on her journey, as well. He doesn't own this forest, after all; for all he knows, _he's_ the one encroaching on someone's territory–

He feels something heavy land on his head, then hears wings fluttering. Or maybe it's just a Pokemon, he tells himself. A whole horde of them. There are some species that travel in groups, after all.

From where Kyungsoo is, he sees Treecko stopping in its tracks at the same time that Ralts looks up. Ralts shakes its head as if saying, _don't you even dare move,_ so Kyungsoo follows. Stays still even if he can feel damp feet tapping a rhythm on his head and feathers brushing against the sides of his cheeks. It tickles. But a strange cold wraps around his throat, grips at it tight until he feels his throat go dry. His chest feels so heavy, like all the breath he's been holding in, keeping inside, is threatening to burst out. And he can feel his heart thumping in his chest, threatening to leap out the minute he parts his lips to speak.

So instead, he asks at the very back of his mind, Wingull? Asks himself again, do Wingull actually attack trainers and Pokemon without being provoked? Because some Pokemon do. A Poochyena's first instinct is to attack; its second, to size up a trainer and to intimidate him.

Ralts nods, slow and deliberate. Kyungsoo lets out a low exhale, then, careful to not move around that much for fear of startling the Wingull on his head. It flaps its wings again. And its’ walking around the tiny space on the crown of Kyungsoo's head, leaning from side to side as if preparing to take flight.

He darts his eyes to where Treecko and Ralts are. A combination of Treecko's Leer and Ralts' Confusion should be able to bring Wingull to the ground and stun it long enough for Kyungsoo to chuck a Pokeball at it. He holds out his hand, though, his right palm facing the ground as he feels for any sort of pattern that Wingull might make.

Three taps of its feet, and then another. He can feel the weight on his head lift a little, but not quite yet – Wingull's settling back on his head, shifting all of its weight on the heels of its feet.

He curls in his fingers and holds a thumbs up in his Pokemon's direction. _Now,_ he screams in his mind, hoping Ralts will hear it, and grins when Treecko launches itself into the air using its tail.

Ralts and Treecko have battled alongside each other for... close to ten matches now? It isn't much and their synchronization is hardly the best, but it's good enough that Treecko knows how to move in Ralts' perimeter now and Ralts knows how to lend Treecko some of its power, how to give Treecko that much needed boost. Wingull looks at Treecko at the same time that Treecko narrows its eyes at the Wingull in a focused stare, and Winggul falls to the ground. Ralts rushes forward, then aims a beam of psychic energy at Wingull, channeling its power into a Confusion attack. It's a wonderful flurry of colors in the air, one that only makes the thumping in Kyungsoo's chest grow wilder. He clenches his fists and bites the inside of his cheek – to keep himself from screaming, from calling out his Pokemon's next attack. To keep himself from bursting into tears at the sight of his Pokemon's almost-perfect synergy during battle? He can't tell yet. All he knows is that the combination is powerful enough that the hit leaves Wingull stunned on the ground, wings stretched open and head lolling to the side.

"You're mine now," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, then reaches for an empty Pokeball from his pocket. He presses the center, unlocking the ball, then throws it in the Wingull's direction. "Pokeball, go!"

This isn't the first time he's attempted to catch a Pokemon – that was ten minutes into the start of his journey, when he sought Ralts' help with catching a Wurmple – but it still feels like it. He still gets that tingling sensation in the arcs of his feet, still feels an explosion set off at the tips of his fingers when the shaking of the Pokeball comes to a gradual halt. He balls his hand into a fist, drawing it close to his chest, and the next thing he knows his body feels as if his skin's being ripped from his bones again. And then he's tumbling forward, face falling so close to the ground, cushioned by the cool press of the Pokeball against his skin.

"Don't do that again," he grumbles. Beside him, Ralts gives out a soft cry and looks up at him wide, wide eyes and a small smile on its lips. It can be an apology, Ralts' way of saying, _I did that so you can get to the Pokeball! You want to meet your new Wingull now, right? Right?_ So he smiles in return, reaches out his hand in Ralts and Treecko's direction, and only laughs when they teleport right on his shoulder instead of climbing up his arm

Treecko sits on his head and Ralts pokes his cheeks. And Treecko's tapping the back of his head with its tail in – anticipation? Excitement? They hadn't reacted to his previous catches like this. So he draws the Pokeball closer to his face and smiling at his freshly caught Pokemon, a new companion that can help him fulfill his mission, reach his goals. Become the greatest Pokemon trainer the world has ever seen and maybe even save the world.

He throws the Pokeball in the air and follows the motion with his eyes. He doesn't blink.

↮

He arrives at Muan-gun two hours after, mud sticking to the sides of his shoes and his bangs sticking to his forehead. He would've arrived sooner, but Treecko and Ralts kept pulling him back to the forest, asking him to look for Pokemon they can battle. You two are tired, worn out, maybe just hanging on by a sliver of energy, Kyungsoo wanted to say then, but they kept tugging at his pants, kept telling them that they can still do a few more battles. They want to. _It's for our own good._ Wingull was quite the competitive Pokemon, as well, popping out of its Pokeball to join the two in convincing Kyungsoo to stay in the forest a little longer. And really, what can a trainer your Pokemon doesn’t relent in trying to convince you that they can still battle, they still want to train and to get better? That they want to have fun? Only cruel people will ever think of denying their Pokemon of happiness that they get from battles. People who are cruel and afraid.

Kyungsoo's tired of being afraid. He's tired of cultivating fear inside him and letting it cripple him. So told the three, "Fine, but _only_ for a few more minutes." Didn't tell them, I just don't want you three to get hurt. I don't want to lose all of you.

Wingull turned out to be quite fond of showing off its moves before actually launching into an attack. It circled the opposing Pokemon before landing a hit, twirling on the tip of its wing before tackling its opponent to the ground. It was good the first few times, but after Wingull took a Tackle attack to its wing, Kyungsoo had to call out, "Defend yourself first; dance later!"

Kyungsoo snorts now as he lays his bag down on the empty seat just beside the healing counter. He draws back his shoulders, cracks his neck. He's almost forgotten how to deal with Pokemon with different personalities. He's been living with just Ralts by his side for too long that he's grown accustomed to being too tender, maybe even too careful. That was Ralts' style; unless provoked, it didn't fight back. And almost all the water-types he met back in Sinyuk-ri were tame, _normal_. They were eager to battle but they wouldn't dance on their feet before diving straight into their opponent's body they wouldn't waste time.

He laughs to himself. Different places, different Pokemon. He should have gotten used to this by now. He's been away from Sinyuk-ri for a good forty-eight hours already but it still feels as if the waves are pulling him back to _that_ shore. To the tiny island he grew up in too many miles away.

"You'll... have your Pokemon healed?" the nurse asks. Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk, then he looks up from where he has the Pokeballs in his hand. "You'll... want to hand them over. Unless you're not here for the healing service. How may I help you, sir?"

"He probably needs some food and rest," Kyungsoo hears someone call out from behind. His stomach turns and he curls in his toes on instinct. The voice is familiar. Too familiar, in fact, that the thumping in his chest quickens in just a few seconds, too familiar that the first statement that leaves his lips in thoughtless retaliation is _shut up._ He whispers that under his breath. He doesn't look over his shoulder yet. "Yeah, he'll have those healed. And _wow,_ a party of six at once? I'm pretty impressed."

"Our mission is to catch Pokemon and study them. I'm doing exactly that," Kyungsoo answers. He looks over his shoulder, then addresses Baekhyun with a cock of an eyebrow. "You're–"

–here, he means to say, but his voice trails off when he sees Baekhyun drenched from head to toe. _He's_ wet all over, as well, his shirt sticking to his skin and beads of water dripping to the gentle swell of his cheeks, but Baekhyun looks as if he's soaked down to the bone. His hair is all over his face and his lips are trembling and his whole body is shaking, and he's holding out his Pokemon for the nurse to take. The Pokeballs are shaking. Maybe they're cold as well. So Kyungsoo scoops them from Baekhyun's hands, gives them to the nurse and says, "He'll have these healed as well, thank you."

"I didn't need your help," Baekhyun mumbles.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "Your Pokemon did."

"They–" Baekhyun's lips hang parted, just a sliver of an opening, then he shuts his mouth again. Zips it up in a tight, thin line. He worries his bottom lip. The furrow of his eyebrows eases, and a corner of his mouth tugs up. It's almost as if he's saying 'thank you' but can't find the perfect way to say it yet. Can't be assed to rummage through his wealth of vocabulary to phrase a simple statement of gratitude without having to say those two words. Or can't swallow down all the other sounds threatening to spill from his lips if he did ever decide to utter that small sound of gratitude. "You're pretty soaked," Baekhyun comments, instead, and cocks his head in Kyungsoo's direction. "Not quick enough to escape the rain, huh?"

Kyungsoo chuckles. Doesn't say a word because his jaw feels sore from all the chattering his teeth had done earlier, because his throat feels so tight and dry despite him dripping with rainwater all over. Instead, he cocks his head in Baekhyun's direction, then shrugs before disappearing around the counter with his bag in tow.

Sunset through the windows of the Pokemon Center in Muan-gun looks far too different from the one in Mokpo-si. There's no clear view of the horizon, with every inch of land in the county littered with houses and buildings. It's a bit strange how it can seem even busier than the city, how people can walk here and pass each other by faster despite the narrow streets, the cramped sidewalks. If Kyungsoo looks to his right, he'll see trainers leaving the Pokemon Center just a minute after they've come in. If he looks to his left, he'll see trainers swapping numbers, contact information one minute, then already arguing the next. Time passes by too quickly in Muan-gun, and there are no waves to keep people afloat. Everyone's running from one place to another, eager to flee.

Kyungsoo shifts in his seat and hugs his jacket closer to himself. He left his Pokemon playing in the day care center at the far back of the Center. Nurse Jinri said it would be good to just let them use up all their unspent energy and let them bond without people hovering them. Fast forward hours after and his Pokemon are asleep again, and he's left to his own thoughts in the holding area for trainers.

He feels a sharp slice of wind close to his face and holds a hand up against his in defense. It's quiet all around and he's sure the holding area was empty when he came in. Maybe someone slipped inside while he was still trapped in his trance, still swimming in his own thoughts and drowning in them. Or maybe Wingull thought it was a nice joke to flap its wings in Kyungsoo's direction, not knowing that it's actually firing off an attack by doing that. Kyungsoo grimaces at the sharp pain in his eyes, more from the air than the cloth hitting his palms–

Kyungsoo opens eyes, peeking from the slits of his bangs. He finds Baekhyun holding up a jacket in his direction, swinging it against his open palm. And Baekhyun looks better now, no longer drenched and hair combed to the sides. "Take it. You need it more than I do," Baekhyun whispers after a while, then sits on the empty space beside Kyungsoo. When Kyungsoo doesn't take it, he drapes it on Kyungsoo's shoulder, then pulls the plackets closer to Kyungsoo's chest. "Did you get your jacket wet, as well?"

Kyungsoo's knee-jerk reaction is a hitch of the breath, a sharp, noisy inhalation through the nose. And then, as if an afterthought, "Thanks." He gulps down hard when Baekhyun moves even closer, slumping in the couch and leaning a little to Kyungsoo's side. Baekhyun isn't the warmest of people right now – parts of him are still cold, like the area just above his wrist when he shifts, their arms sliding against each other, or the tip of his nose when he tilts his head up, brings his face closer to Kyungsoo's own. Too close for comfort, but normal enough for friends. Or acquaintances. Time and distance shape friendships differently sometimes. The extent, Kyungsoo isn't quite sure yet.

"How's Mudkip?" Kyungsoo asks after a while, when his stomach behind to turn again. It's not even dinnertime yet. The last meal he had was some odeng an hour ago. "Better now?"

"Mhmm," Baekhyun replies. He shifts again, burying his face in the soft fabric of the jacket he'd handed Kyungsoo earlier. "It's Taillow I'm waiting for. I found it in the forest. One of its wings was broken."

A new one so soon, Kyungsoo contemplates asking, but instead he turns to look to his side. "How is it?"

Baekhyun laughs a little. Or at least that's what it sounds like, his voice muffled where he has his face buried in the material of the jacket he’d lent Kyungsoo. "I tried to do some first aid before we got here and–" He snorts. Takes a deep breath, too, and shuffles even closer. Kyungsoo can feel the heavy thumping in Baekhyun's chest, pressed to his arm and leaving dollops of warmth through the fabric. It makes Kyungsoo shiver. "Well, he's still alive for the most part. Pretty sure his ego's taken a beating after breaking his wing. I don't even know how it happened but he... seemed pretty down when I picked him up."

You've always had a soft spot for the broken ones, Kyungsoo wants to say. He doesn't. Instead, he tells Baekhyun, "He should be okay again in three days. As long as he gets enough rest."

"But you know birds – they're stubborn as fuck."

Kyungsoo leans back a little, trying to get a better look at Baekhyun, but all he ever succeeds in doing is drawing Baekhyun closer, making Baekhyun lose balance and fall forward.

 _Ah, birds,_ a voice at the back of his mind says. Baekhyun has a habit of breaking his own wings too often, has a habit of flying too high then plummeting to the ground faster than he can cry for help. And he has a habit of getting back up, too, bolder and better than before. Stronger, more resilient, but just as stubborn. The same old Byun Baekhyun that he met more than a decade ago while he was picking shells from the shoreline, the kid who chucked an empty shell at him because Kyungsoo wouldn't even look over his shoulder to say 'hi'.

"Good that you know," Kyungsoo murmurs. Baekhyun chases after him, resting his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder this time, and letting out a loud exhale. Baekhyun twists his knuckles into Kyungsoo's shirt in silent retaliation. Stubborn birds. Stubborn wounded birds. "Good that you know."

There are certain friendships that don't require much contact, the type of friendship where two people can drift apart like boats just staying afloat, surrendering to the waves and letting them push the boats farther apart, sometimes even pulling them closer to each other. Too close, even, that they sometimes collide. Baekhyun had to move to Sokcho-si with the rest of his family to build a new home, to pick up the broken pieces of the life he'd left behind. He let the waves take him there. Kyungsoo had dropped anchor in Sinyuk-ri already, thinking Baekhyun would come back eventually, but then the war erupted. The tsunami wiped out little Sinyuk-ri, swept Kyungsoo to the coastline of Mokpo-si. And then there Baekhyun was, swimming back to shore, challenging him to a battle again like they've never drifted apart. Like they were always meant to see each other again in a place that wasn't quite home yet, but would be fit for the part.

Baekhyun nudges him in his side, then pops an eye open. "Heard you picked up a Wingull again," he whispers. "Just like old times, eh?"

Not really, Kyungsoo wants to say, because they're older now. He'll never get his old Pelipper back, will never be able to revive his fallen Pokemon team after his Pokemon sacrificed their lives to save him and Seungsoo. He has a Treecko now – that's another big difference. Every new addition to his team opens up a whole array of possibilities. It's just a matter of picking the right one that won't bring him back to those old days, that won't sweep him back to the ruined shores of Sinyuk-ri.

So he shrugs, doesn't say, Yeah, a bit, but better. He doesn't say anything else, just lets Baekhyun fit himself in the curve of his body, the heavy thumping in their chests the music they listen to as they watch the sun set just beyond the window.

↮

Kyungsoo wakes up without the familiar lump of heat in his side. It's close to eight in the evening already, and beside him lies a plate filled with Pokeballs on them. There's a note there, stuck somewhere between Pokeballs number three and four, glaring at him in all its bright pink glory. He blinks a few times, trying to refocus his vision, then leans closer. The words _DON'T SLACK OFF :P_ are written on the tiny piece of paper, big, bold characters jumping out at him and sticking to his skin.

"Weirdo," Kyungsoo whispers. He keeps the note, anyway, slipping the colored paper in his Pokedex for safekeeping.

He doesn't head back to the main area of the Center until ten minutes later, after noting down observations on the Pokemon he's just caught. The Wurmple he captured ealier is a deep shade of green instead of the usual red. If it was one of those alternate-colored Pokemon then it should've been purple, but it isn't. It's wearing a scar on the left side of its body, as well, and then a few dots of yellow along the slope of its back.

And Wingull's up and about again, twirling on the tip of its right wing like it hadn't almost broken it a few hours ago. Kyungsoo gets on his knees, then, running his hand through Wingull's fur in an effort to calm Wingull down. "You won't want to break that anytime soon. Just get some rest for now."

Or not, Kyungsoo muses as Wingull hits his nose with its wing. He frowns. "Fifteen minutes. No flying around, no roughhousing," he tells Wingull, looking straight into its eyes. Wingull nuzzles his cheek with its beak, then, and starts knocking on Treecko's Pokeball.

Ralts comes out unannounced, crawling up Kyungsoo's arm and settling on his shoulder. "You want to play, too?" he asks, and Ralts only shakes its head, then slumps against Kyungsoo's cheek.

Kyungsoo watches as Wingull takes both of Treecko's hands and starts dancing with it. He's never trained a grass-type before, not with Sinyuk-ri being filled with nothing but water-types and a few stray psychic-types, but he can tell, just by the way Treecko keeps swaying its tail back and forth, that it's having fun. And it's strange for a water-type and grass-type to get along, especially when it was Treecko that Wingull first saw attacking it, but at the same time the scene unfolding in front of him _feels_ right – two Pokemon, just having fun and goofing off after a long day of training and traveling. Two new members of his team, one of them a reminder of his fallen Pelipper and the other something he has never had the chance to encounter prior to moving to Mokpo-si to fulfill a mission. A mix of the old and the new.

Ralts leans forward, resting its crown on Kyungsoo's right temple. "Yeah, I know, they look weird," he whispers, then chuckles at the same time that Ralts' body gives a tiny shake. "Why don't you join them?"

Ralts gives his cheek a jab – or a light jab, at least, because it can't really do much with its tiny hands. When Kyungsoo looks to his side, at Ralts, he finds Ralts pulling its legs close to its chest.

He snorts. Laughs, too, because, "Okay, I get it. They're just friends, if that makes you feel better." And maybe it does lift the tension in Ralts a bit, because the weight on Kyungsoo's shoulder lifts until he can feel nothing but a cool wave of air again, wrapping around his neck but not quite choking him. Soon, Ralts joins the two, walking between Treecko and Wingull and breaking the link of their hands.

Kyungsoo stares at the pink sticky note on his thigh, then sticks it to the back of the cover of his Pokedex. There's an image of Mudkip on the display, purple instead of its usual blue, its skin shining instead of the usual dull color it wears. It takes more than a new and brighter spark for old ties to just be broken, he wants to tell Ralts. Connections that are strong almost always survive the test of times, even distance. Sometimes, all the years apart make those bonds stronger, malleable. Impossible to break. You just have to wait it out, wait for the right time to give those strings a gentle pull. Or let yourself be pulled back into familiar shores until you're tumbling on the sand and crashing into a familiar pair of arms.

He fishes for something in his pocket, half a Pokeball whose white has already taken a dull yellow color and whose red is close to fading into something more pink. He laughs. And then there are the strange, sticky bonds, the type that keep you hanging by a sliver of blind faith. The type that you think will break soon, anytime soon, only to find out that they’re to stay forever.

↮

Morning hits Kyungsoo with a violent ray of light on his cheek. It feels a lot like burning, his skin prickling under the heat, but it also feels like six pairs of hands poking him in his side. He blinks a few times, then, trying to refocus his vision, and looks around him. There's a Pokeball painting on the wall a few feet away. There's a wall clock to his right, as well. And the blanket draped on him has been pulled up all the way to the base of his nose. He managed to find his way to the sleeping area in the Center before passing out. The question is, did he somehow manage to recall Ralts and the others even if they were still playing at half past ten in the evening?

"You three are up early," he grumbles at the same time that Wingull greets him with a slap to his face. He pushes himself up, then, holding out his arm so that Wingull can rest on it. "Hungry?"

Treecko, Ralts, and Wingull all beam at him in response. He takes a deep breath, then runs his fingers through his hair. The other part of being a Pokemon trainer that teachers in trainer schools don't tell you – it's like being a parent to six kids you can't even talk to properly.

Breakfast is a combination of all sorts of berries that Kyungsoo finds at the back. There's an entire field just outside the backdoor, a nice selection of berry bushes and trees that Treecko quickly runs to as it wags its tail. "They're all nutritious, stat-boosting berries!" Nurse Jinri explains as she shows them around, then hands him a basket to put his harvest in. "You can even take some for your journey, if you want to. Muan-gun is rich in berries, after all. It's the least the Center can provide to trainers who have lent the government their time and effort to taking care of Pokemon."

"Thank you," Kyungsoo says, bowing in her direction just a little. "The box system is connected to Professor Kwon's research database, right? Every Pokemon we leave there, she can check?"

"Mhmm, that's right." Nurse Jinri ushers him forward, making way for the trainers coming in from the door. "There's a box code that you can give her so that she'll be able to find your Pokemon quickly. I'm guessing you're one of the select trainers she's just sent out to complete the Dex?"

More than that, Kyungsoo wants to say. They've been sent on a mission to make sure Pokemon are stable, to make sure that it's possible to co-exist with Pokemon again without the fear of being attacked at night, while humans are asleep. But sometimes just alluding to the war sets fear in people, sparks an unsettling feeling in them that leaves people crippled with uncertainties. And they don't need that right now. Kyungsoo doesn't need to be reminded of those dark days back in Sinyuk-ri when he was watching trees being burnt to cinders one by one, watching water-types scurry to the shores in the quest for survival

So he answers, "Yes, I'm one of those trainers." He nods at Ralts when Ralts tugs at his pants. "And yes, you can join them with the berry picking."

Beside him, Nurse Jinri chuckles. "Those are three excited Pokemon that you have," she comments.

" _Very_ excited," he amends. Nurse Jinri laughs even more. "They've sucked all the energy out of me."

Wingull proves to be skilled with picking berries, assessing them with its beak and using only the slightest swipe of its wing along the stem to make the berries fall to the basket below. Treecko's a natural, being able to weed out the bad berries from the good ones at the first glance. Typical of a grass-type, but Treecko does it much quicker than the Lotad just a few feet away or even the Shroomish scouring the same bush Treecko is picking berries from. And Ralts... Well, Ralts is there to cheer them on. Ralts has been coughing since Kyungsoo got up; must be the effect of staying wet for too long on their way to Muan-gun.

Kyungsoo crouches low, then presses the green berry in his hand close to Ralts' mouth. "Eat up. This Lum berry will make you feel better," he whispers, then gives Ralts' head a soft pat. "Come on, you'll be in tip-top shape again after this–"

Ralts shakes its head. For the quickest moment, Kyungsoo thinks he sees Ralts' body glowing, but the faint light is gone as soon as he blinks. He takes a deep breath, then, and drops the Lum berry in the basket. If he forces Ralts to eat the berry then he'll end up lugging around a grumpy Pokemon. Not the best thing to work with when he's traveling from one place to another.

They leave the Center at nine in the morning, the sun up high but not quite punishing them with harsh heat. The ground is blessedly dry, no longer damp from the rain last night. It's a blessing, with the road ahead being a sandy path where the chance of a sandstorm kicking up is always a hundred percent. "You should be able to find a nice selection of Pokemon there," Professor Kwon told him earlier, after he'd given his report on the Pokemon he'd caught on his first day as a trainer. "And your Ralts looks... different now. Its hair is shinier than the usual. And the crown on its head is glowing."

"She was coughing earlier, professor," Kyungsoo had explained then. He leaned closer in Ralts' direction, trying to examine his Pokemon. Ralts was no longer coughing after drinking up some of the berry soup, but it _had_ been acting a bit weird the whole morning. "She's better now so– I don't understand. This hasn't happened to her in a while."

"Oh, it's happened before?" Professor Kwon nodded in thought. "When?"

"Years ago," Kyungsoo replied. He worried his bottom lip. "During the war, when she... tried to keep herself from evolving."

Professor Kwon cocked an eyebrow, then blinked a few times. "Try talking to her," she said, then took a deep breath. "Tell her times are different now, that it's okay to let things happen. It’s… never healthy to keep power suppressed for too long. It might eat her up from the inside."

Kyungsoo heals up his Pokemon before stepping into the desert. It's the only open path, the alternative route – turning left to reach Hampyong-gun then traveling down the clear, tree-barren route to arrive at Jeonju-si – now blocked with a huge signage reading 'ROAD CLOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION' in big, bold characters. He takes a deep breath, then, and urges his Pokemon to get back inside their Pokeballs, tells them it will be safer there, "It's for your own good."

He slips the goggles he'd picked up from the Pokemon Mart at Muan-gun, then flexes his fingers. He's determined to leave the desert emptying out the Pokeball compartment of his bag and add more entries to his Pokedex. And then, after that, the Jeonju-si Gym.

The desert... isn't the vast plain he'd imagined it to be. There are tiny hills at the sides, some bigger than the others. If he squints hard, he’ll see a tower of sorts not too far away, but then maybe he’s just imagining things. And he spots a handful of trainers in the area, as well. He cranes his neck a little when he finds a trainer lugging around a Torchic some ten, fifteen meters away, but loses sight of her when he gets tackled to the ground by a tiny, brown Pokemon.

"Trapinch," he groans under his breath, then whips out his Pokedex. An image of Trapinch pops up on the display and, the next thing he knows, he's sinking deeper into the sand.

He manages to summon Treecko before his arms can get trapped beneath the sand, and Treecko glares at the Trapinch at the first opportunity when it sees Kyungsoo on the ground. "Leer, and then Pound! We have to make this quick or else–" Or else Treecko will get sand in its eyes and get damaged by the sandstorm that is slowly gaining more power, the winds picking up even more by the minute, but Treecko does something else, concentrates all of its energy into a small green ball floating in front of it before releasing it in Trapinch's direction. Kyungsoo has never seen Treecko do this before, not in the few days they've spent with each other. Maybe Treecko picked it up while they were watching some battles on television. Maybe this is twisted variation of Pound, except Treecko isn't making contact with Trapinch _or anything at all._ Or maybe Treecko has picked up a new attack, has gained enough experience to learn a new way of battling foes, a new move in the form of–

"Absorb," Kyungsoo whispers. He tries to wriggle his hand free from the bounds of the sand and pushes himself back to his feet. Treecko stutters back when the sandstorm blows in its direction, holding its arms up. "Ralts, help Treecko out and redirect the sandstorm elsewhere!"

Ralts comes bursting out of its Pokeball and begins to glow with a bright purple. This isn't Ralts' Confusion, Kyungsoo notes. He's seen the move too many times already that he knows, just by looking at the way Ralts lowers its head and opens its arms wide that this isn't the same attack he's seen his Pokemon use through the years. It's more powerful, drawing all the sand within two feet of them to a funnel. It makes the hair at his nape stand, makes him curl in his toes and then stretch them out again for fear of losing his balance. And it makes Ralts' body glow all over, the purple light it was once emanation fading into a bright white and gripping tight at Kyungsoo's heart.

And then the light dissipates into thin air and the sandstorm blows their way again. And Ralts is on its knees, holding out a hand in an attempt to regain control of the sandstorm.

Kyungsoo looks to his side and finds the Trapinch on the ground, with Treecko pressing its knee down on the Trapinch's body. He wastes no time, then, takes a Pokeball from his belt and chucks it at the Trapinch. The balls pops open and hits Trapinchi with a red beam of light, wrapping around the Trapinch and pulling it inside the ball. Kyungsoo holds his breath as he watches the Pokeball shake, as the Pokeball tilts to the left, then to the right, again and again for the next ten seconds until a soft 'click' cuts through the hushing of the wind. Kyungsoo's first instinct is to reach out for the ball and draw it close to his body; his second, to reach out for Ralts, to take Ralts in his arms and pull it closer to him, Ralts' cheek pressed to his chest.

He can feel Ralts' pulse race against his skin, can feel Ralts' shallow breathing against his chest. "It's alright," he tells Ralts, or at least tries to tell it in his head, again and again until the message rises above the loud thumping in his own chest. "You don't have to be afraid anymore. The war is over."

Ralts buries its face in Kyungsoo's chest. Kyungsoo looks all around him, trying to see through the brewing sandstorm. The winds are blowing stronger now, and he can feel some of the sand sticking to his forehead, his cheeks, his neck. The closest group of people is five, six meters away. It's almost impossible to call for help or to find his way back to the entrance, being too deep into the desert already. And he can't risk injuring Ralts even more by asking it to teleport them to a much safer place. The tiny specks of sand leave nasty scars on his skin, but it's nothing compared to the dull ache in his chest. It's nothing compared to the faint whimpers he can hear Ralts making, nothing compared to the voices at the back of his mind saying, You need to do better than that, Kyungsoo. Words won't be enough sometimes. _Do something._

He clips the Pokeball to his belt. Tells Ralts, "Hang on in there. We'll get you out of here soon." Below him, Treecko nudges at his pants, then offers a small, yellow berry. Something Kyungsoo had given it earlier just in case they got into any tough battles and he ran out of Potion to heal them with. Treecko cocks its head to its left, then lets out a sharp cry. There's a rock formation big enough to shield two bodies, maybe even three Pokemon.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and holds Ralts closer to his chest. He'll find a way to make things work.

Ralts begins to regain its color five minutes after Kyungsoo feeds it the Sitrus berry, then gives Kyungsoo's cheek a light poke. The tip of its hand is cold, just enough to combat the thick cloak of heat enveloping Kyungsoo now. It prickles his skin. He shivers all over. Years after and Ralts still can't muster the right words for whatever it wants to say, always restoring to a nudge or a soft touch, a gentle prod. Or by pressing the tip of its crown to Kyungsoo's forehead as if saying, _I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't mean to hurt you–_

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then brushes some of the sand that had caught on Ralts' crown off the surface. It feels like deja vu, from the small gesture to the way Ralts cries out and grips Kyungsoo by the front of his shirt. The way Ralts pulls Kyungsoo closer until it can bury its face in Kyungso's chest. Something drops itself at the pit of Kyungsoo's stomach, like needle or a speck of sand scoring a fine, fine line down his throat. A seed of uncertainty and indecision blooming inside him as he asks himself, Is this what I should be doing? Do all trainers go through this? _This is a basic obstacle for beginner trainers, Kyungsoo. You can't be this weak, can you?_

Kyungsoo looks up at the feeling of something hard hitting the back of his head. A green berry rolls to his side, just close to his shoes. A Lum berry. It had been effective on Ralts before, this morning when it was feeling a bit under the weather, but Ralts can't be suffering from any status conditions, right? Trapinch can't hit Ralts with any type of poison attack, not with Treecko deflecting attacks earlier–

"Does that help? Lum berry's a cure-all," comes a familiar voice. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder, at a Baekhyun dressed in a yellow suit from head to toe and carrying a Lotad in his arms. "Or maybe a Sitrus berry?"

Kyungsoo picks the berry up from the ground and moves to his side a little. Never mind that he can feel the sand on his skin again, leaving nasty scars on his body – Lotad needs to rest, too, needs to be shielded from the storm. "I already gave her a Sitrus berry earlier. She's just tired. Recovering from battle."

"You let her battle in here without goggles?" Lotad isn't wearing them, either. Kyungsoo doesn't point that out, though. He keeps his lips pressed together, doesn't drop his eyes back to Ralts until Baekhyun says, "Wow. Didn't think you had it in you to be reckless, Soo."

 _Not reckless,_ Kyungsoo wants to say, wants to tell Baekhyun through gritted teeth and with his hand balled into a fist in Baekhyun's shirt. He wants to punch Baekhyun in the face or the first part of Baekhyun that his fist can reach because he's _tending to a sick Pokemon._ They're not playing around and Ralts isn't pretending to be sick. Something's wrong with it and Kyungsoo can only imagine all the pain Ralts has to go through every single time it has to suppress its powers in an effort to not evolve. To not turn into one of those evil Kirlias and Gardevoirs that once attacked their little island. To not turn against Kyungsoo and just remain journeying with him forever.

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath. Balls his hand, the one that isn't holding Ralts, into a fist, and slam it into the loose sand. "Shut up. You don't know what happened," he mutters, then turns his back to Baekhyun. He keeps his eyes fixes on Ralts even if he can feel Baekhyun's heavy gaze on the back of his head, even if he can feel the cool pads of Baekhyun's fingers skate up his nape, settling on the area where his hair thins and giving Kyungsoo's nape a soft squeeze.

"There's a house here, a few meters away. You can get Ralts healed there," Baekhyun mumbles. He blows at the sand that has accumulated on the bridge of his nose, reminders of the battle he had to go through while powering through the desert. "Functions as a Pokemon Center in the middle of the desert, actually. It's a pretty cozy place."

Kyungsoo looks up for a minute, then leans back and closes his eyes when he feels the sand slip inside his goggles, pricking his eyes a little. From where he is, through the narrow opening of his eyes, he can see the downward pull on the corners of Baekhyun's lips. It makes him look four, five years older than he truly is. Takes the glimmer away from his features and makes the magic in his eyes fizzle into smoke. His stomach turns, lurches, acid pounding at its walls. It makes him want to throw up. "Where is it?"

"Five minutes away? Shouldn't be too far." Baekhyun gets on his knees, digging deep in his pocket and pulling out spare goggles as he leans closer. "I can take you there– Can you help me with Ralts for a bit?"

"Right," Kyungsoo whispers. He guides Ralts up, motioning it to sit up straight, then helps Baekhyun pull the goggles over Ralts head. Ralts lets out a low cry, flailing its arms about a little, but soon it sinks into Baekhyun's warm touch, the pads of Baekhyun's fingers grazing against Kyungsoo's skin.

It prickles. _Burns._ But maybe it's just the work of the heat all around them, the sand scoring lines and scars along their hands. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and holds Ralts closer to his chest, getting back on his feet as soon as they snap the goggles into place. There are more important matters to attend to, like the Pokemon in his arms that needs to be healed, the wounds on his skin stacking up. Baekhyun limping, dragging his left leg behind as he holds Lotad close to his chest. The silence stretched thin between them as they walk to the healing center nearby, and the way the brushing of their knuckles against each other _still_ makes Kyungsoo's insides turn.

↮

"Lotad got attacked by a Cacnea," Baekhyun explains. He shifts in his seat, groaning when he accidentally twists his already injured ankle. "Happened around five minutes after we got out of this place. I should've known better than to let it battle."

Kyungsoo moves away, reaching the pillow closest to him and placing it on the space between them. "Lift your leg," he says, _instructs_ Baekhyun, but Baekhyun doesn't budge. Instead, Baekhyun just presses his lips into a thin, thin line and curls his fingers into loose fists in his side. He leans back against the wall, as well, seething then the back of his head his the surface a bit too hard. Inches a bit away from Kyungsoo, _just a bit,_ until Kyungsoo can’t see the faint red scar on Baekhyun’s cheek from where he’d been hit by the sandstorm too many times. Still, he doesn’t lift his leg, doesn’t even meet Kyungsoo in the eye even if Kyungsoo’s _certain_ Baekhyun heard him. The confirmation was there, in the way Baekhyun’s body gave a little jerk in recognition, in the way a small smile tugged up at a corner of Baekhyun’s lips before pressed his lips together. This isn't a competition, Kyungsoo wants to tell him, wants to say through gritted teeth, but he’s tired. He knows Baekhyun is, too. So it's okay to give in, isn’t it? No one’s sounding off the whistle to start the battle. No one’s keeping score.

"I said, put your leg here. _Now,_ " he repeats, more slowly this time as if it makes a difference. He rolls his eyes when Baekhyun scrunches his face in response. "Do you want to recover fast or not?"

"I do. I just–" Baekhyun shakes his head, then guides his leg up, resting his injured foot on the pillow. He's wearing neon green socks. It's a nice contrast to the black and white outfit he's wearing now, almost like a speck of color breathing life back into his system. "My feet stink."

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. He doesn't miss the faint dusting of pink on Baekhyun's cheeks, though, doesn't miss the way Baekhyun worries his bottom lip as he meets Kyungsoo's gaze. "Nothing we can do about that," Kyungsoo grumbles in response. He pushes himself off the couch, getting back on his feet. "I'll get you some ice."

"You don't have to. I can manage–"

"I–" Want to help, Kyungsoo means to say, but Baekhyun will hate hearing that. 'Helping' means Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun is incapable of whatever he wants to do, even if Kyungsoo believes otherwise. Baekhyun has this knee-jerk response to weakness where he pushes people away at the first sign of an offered hand or aid in the form of consoling words. Then he'll look over his shoulder and wonder how things would have been if he'd just taken that hand, if he'd nodded when he was asked, 'is there anything I can help you with?' If he'd just said yes more often than he said no and shut people down before they could even say ’need help?' So instead, Kyungsoo answers, "–I'm going to get water, anyway. Might as well grab an ice pack for you while I'm at the pantry."

Baekhyun blinks a few times, assessing, and takes a deep breath. "Are you sure? You're not going there just because you want to get me an ice pack or something?"

Kyungsoo snorts. Scoffs, too, for effect, even if it feels like scratching his own throat and making it run dry. Baekhyun smiles a little in response. Kyungsoo hasn't even said anything yet. "Don't be silly. I'm grabbing water for myself," he mumbles, then, crackling his knuckles before pacing a few steps forward. "Your timing's just good."

"Glad to know," Baekhyun replies. He slips a pillow behind him, and then slumps against it until he finds a comfortable enough position. "Now go, get your lazy ass moving. Gimme that ice pack."

Kyungsoo shakes his head. He can feel the pulse in his palms quicken, can feel his skin grow sweaty and sticky. It's gross. The sinking sensation inside him, setting off explosions at the tips of his fingers, even more.

When he returns, he finds Baekhyun slowly drifting off, head lolling back and then forward, back again until he hits the wall a bit too hard. "Ow," Baekhyun groans, massaging the back of his head, then looks around for an audience. Kyungsoo takes it as his cue to press his back to the wall, to hide for a minute and maybe trick Baekhyun into thinking that Kyungsoo hadn't seen anything, wasn't aware of the accident that just happened, wasn't biting the back of his hand in an effort to keep the laughter at bay. Only two minutes after does he resurface, pushing himself off the wall and announce his presence with heavy footsteps.

Baekhyun looks up from where he's massaging his knees. His eyebrows are lifted a little, but only just – enough to make him look surprised, caught off-guard, enough to make him look like he's counting the seconds between the time he bumped his head and now, checking if Kyungsoo had seen his little slip up earlier. "You have the ice pack with you?"

"Yeah," Kyungsoo mumbles, then throws it at Baekhyun. He tries to aim for Baekhyun's face but misses, the ice bag landing on Baekhyun's thighs, instead.

Baekhyun shivers but lifts the bag, anyway. He reaches forward, trying to place the bag on ankle he has cushioned on a pillow instead of just throwing the bag in its direction, but soon he's grunting and groaning. And he's making this small, unintelligible noise at the back of his throat, something akin to a whimper that he's trying to keep behind the barricade of his teeth. Kyungsoo hovers for a moment, doesn't lean in until Bakehyun leans back against the pillow, head thrown back and eyes shut closed. So Kyungsoo takes this as his opportunity, an opening, the perfect time to launch an attack – he takes the ice back and places it on the injured ankle, then settles back into his seat, eyes fixed on the interesting slabs of wood in front of him.

"Thanks," Baekhyun mumbles. His eyes are still wide open. His bottom lip is even more swollen, a nice, bright shade of red. He shifts in his seat. When the ice bag falls to the side of his ankle, he huffs. "Uh, can you help–"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and cocks an eyebrow at Baekhyun, and then it hits him – the role he has to play, Baekhyun looking up at him with wide eyes like he never meant for Kyungsoo to find _whatever_ out, Baekhyun's lips hanging parted like he lost the rest of his sentence somewhere between fixing his eyes on his painful knees and lifting his gaze to meet Kyungsoo's own. So Kyungsoo just rests the ice bag again on Baekhyun's ankle, doesn't let it go until Baekhyun asks him to adjust it a little, bring it more to the left– _no,_ the right. Up, further up, until the pain sticks to the slippery surface of the ice, until Kyungsoo can lift the pain and make it go away.

↮

The sandstorm quiets down in the evening. It still kicks up from time to time, when the wind blows a bit too hard and lifts the sand off the ground, but for the most part it's tame enough for dinner outside the Center, by a small campfire at the back, to be comfortable. Baekhyun tries to fry some eggs but ends up with burnt rings of egg white. Numel helps with toasting the marshmallows. And Kyungsoo takes care of the soup, using some of the savory berries he'd harvested from the Pokemon Center at Muan-gun earlier.

Baekhyun's watching over Lotad and Mudkip play now, with Taillow hovering them. Sort of like it's keeping watch over the two Pokemon and trying to keep them safe from Cacnea that might attack them. Beside Kyungsoo, Ralts leans on his side and rests its head on Kyungsoo's lap.

"Feeling better?" Kyungsoo asks. Ralts gives him a slow, subtle nod, then a faint cry. "I'm serious: are you really feeling better now?"

Ralts look up from where its been hanging its head low for a while now. There's a small smile on its lips. The red of its crown is brighter than ever. And Ralts is glowing again, the same faint glow that covered its body earlier after it launched the psychic attack on the Trapinch. Ralts' chest is heaving and it's closing its eyes and it's whimpering and–

"The war is over now, Ralts," Kyungsoo whispers. He runs his hand along the side of Ralts' body. Ralts shivers at the touch, but leans in just the same. It's the same thing that happened a year ago, back in Sinyuk-ri, after the explosions had finally died down and the waters stopped crashing too hard against the rocks. _The war is over now, Ralts. We're alive. Hyung and I are here for you. We'll always be here for you–_ "You don't have to be afraid anymore–"

"Trauma," comes a familiar voice from behind, then two sets of footsteps, one lighter than the other. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder and lets out a low exhale when he sees Baekhyun approaching. Numel is walking just beside him, nudging his leg every few seconds. "The week after the war, Numel still couldn't attack with Incinerate. And to think–" Baekhyun snorts, scoffs as he settles beside Kyungsoo. Their elbows touches, the first slide of the bones against each other making Kyungsoo shiver just a little. He can feel goose pimples crawling up his arm, putting up the thinnest barrier between him and Baekhyun. The thing is, Baekhyun is shivering as well. "–and to think Incinerate's his favorite attack. I mean– It was _crazy,_ man. It took, what, months before Numel could properly battle again? Didn't even think he'd be able to face another Pokemon without– without shaking for a moment and–"

"Did he try to stop evolving, as well?" Kyungsoo asks. He tilts his head to the side, leaning back so he can see Baekhyun better. "With all of those battles, I'm pretty sure Numel gained enough experience to evolve–"

"He still won't evolve. He doesn't want to. He keeps–" Baekhyun bites his bottom lip and takes a deep, deep breath. He scowls a little, wincing at the pressure on his lips. Or maybe the tightness in his throat. His voice cracked earlier; Kyungsoo felt his fingers tremble at that, and the memory of it makes him feel a shiver wrap around his neck. "He keeps hitting stuff when he tries to stop himself from evolving. The weird dark mark on the side of his head? The scar on his back? The cut near his mouth? Those are all from trying to keep all the energy inside."

"And your ankle injury?" Kyungsoo drops his gaze to the red ring around Baekhyun's ankle for a while, then meets Baekhyun's gaze again. "Where's that from?"

Baekhyun doesn't answer. Instead, he laughs, swallows that sound down with a cough and sniffle.

They sit in comfortable silence for the next few minutes, the white noise broken only by the gentle hushing of the wind and the sound of their Pokemon playing nearby. The crackling of the fire, as well, and Baekhyun's soft humming beside him, growing louder with every passing second until the distance between them thins. This time, Baekhyun snakes an arm across Kyungsoo’s back, snaking his hand up the slope of Kyungsoo’s neck to coax Kyungsoo to lean on his shoulder. The fit feels a bit weird, awkward, makes Kyungsoo feel a strain in the side of him that is cold and isn’t touching Baekhyun, but maybe that's just all the years they've spent swimming close to two different shores at work – Baekhyun in Sokcho-si, and Kyungsoo in Sinyuk-ri. All the years they've spent swimming away from each other pulling them together now, with Baekhyun letting his hand fall to Kyungsoo’s side, settling on Kyungsoo’s waist.

"Why didn't you move to Sokcho-si?" Baekhyun asks out of the blue. Kyungsoo gulps down hard. Part of him hears something else, questions upon questions in Baekhyun’s little voice – _why didn't you follow me to the other side of the country? Why did you have to wait for me to make the first move again? Why did we have to drift apart?_ "Seungsoo-hyung said before that you guys might– That you two might move there if you could find a school–"

 _Try._ That's the operative term. Kyungsoo never promised anything. Then again, Baekhyun never posed a question, never even asked if they'd see each other ever again. Baekhyun just took the first ferry out of Sinyuk-ri, took flight even before Kyugnsoo could explain a thing.

Kyungsoo worries his bottom lip. Touches it, too, because it feels a bit too sore and swollen. Wrong move, he tells himself when he feels the sharp sting of his nail scratching the sensitive skin, then drops his hand on Baekhyun’s thigh. He can feel the quick shift of Baekhyun’s muscles, the way they tense at the light touch. And he can feel the thrumming pulse in his palms, the back of his knees, his ears. He's been making too many bad decisions lately and all of them involve Baekhyun.

"Seungsoo-hyung wanted to finish his studies in Sinyuk-ri. That was the plan before the war happened."

"And during the war?"

"We were stuck." He means, we would have escaped if we hadn't been crippled with fear. Or if we just _tired_ hard enough. "The waves were too strong. You know what Kyogre did."

Baekhyun snorts. He drops his hand from where he’s rubbing his thumb along Kyungsoo’s waist, then snakes it between them. Rests it atop Kyungsoo hand on his thigh and presses down on Kyungsoo's warm skin as if trying to keep Kyungsoo from swimming away or floating back to the distant shores of their tiny island. "We were too busy worrying about Groudon drying up our side of the ocean."

Kyungsoo laughs. He splays his fingers on Baekhyun's thigh and Baekhyun slips his own fingers in between, almost like a stimulus. Like they used to do this all the time, as kids. They never did. Baekhyun only ever held Kyungsoo by the wrist. And Kyungsoo never made an effort to wriggle his hand free from Baekhyun's grip to slip his hand south, further down until they could lace their fingers together. "I guess we both have our own reasons for not keeping in touch."

Baekhyun tilts his head a little, his cheek pressing close to Kyungsoo's forehead. Too close, Kyungsoo muses, Baekhyun’s too close. Close enough that Kyungsoo can feel Baekhyun’s rough lips brushing against his skin, close enough that the can feel the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun’s lips against his cheek where they’re almost, almost touching. "We didn't try hard enough?" Baekhyun asks. A loud gulp, then, "Or we just got busy?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He doesn't look up, doesn't tear his gaze from the link of their fingers. Baekhyun's pulse is fast against his skin. And his palm is sticky, clamy. Almost as if he hadn't planned for this to happen but then Baekhyun’s never been a fan of plans. Baekhyun's always been spontaneous, after all. Baekhyun is all about going with gut feel and using years of experience to back up whatever shit he's pulling off; he’s the last person who’d stick to whatever Kyungsoo had planned and maybe even ruin the whole thing, only to come up with something else entirely better.

Kyungsoo isn't about spontaneity. He takes comfort in planning things, knowing all the possible outcomes before making a solid decision. Uncertainty makes his senses go off and go haywire. It drives him crazy.

Baekhyun does, too.

"A bit of both," is all that Kyungsoo says, then closes his eyes. The fire won't be going out anytime soon, won't be fizzling into thin air. Baekhyun will be awake for another hour or two. He won't leave. So he takes a deep breath and just allows fatigue to consume him, allows himself to crawl back to familiar shores and trace the steps he and Baekhyun had taken on them – from the time Baekhyun knocked on his door one summer day and asked, do you have time? Can we talk? From the time Baekhyun pulled Kyungsoo out of his house for a quiet talk along the coastline, up until he too Kyungsoo's hands, really took them in his and drew them close to his chest before parting his lips.

In the distance, Treecko and Wingull squeal in what seems to be delight. It drowns out Baekhyun's next words, the question he'd posed before, and the single sound that Kyungsoo made in response.

↮

He wakes up to the sight of nothing but a thick sheet of darkness all around him and a lump of comforters close to his face. He looks around, trying to make sense of where he is, but it's too dark in here to even see a thing. He can hear the soft ticking of the clock just a few feet away, can feel something shift behind him and press closer to his back. And then a steady thumping, one long beat to the two quick ones in his chest right now, a nice rhythm he finds his muscles relaxing to.

He looks over his shoulder – tries to, at least – and blows hot air into the tuft of hair that greets him. Baekhyun hasn't left yet. It's two in the morning. There's nowhere else to go.

He doesn't remember much from last night, after passing out on Baekhyun's shoulder but waking up around thirty minutes after. He recalls letting his Pokemon stay outside their capsules for the night and tucking them in, remembers staying up a bit later, listening to Baekhyun talk about his battles in the forest on his way to Muan-gun, the number of Pokemon he has already recorded on his Pokedex. He recalls listening to Baekhyun's soft humming when they ran out of things to talk about that weren't those days they shared back in Sinyuk-ri, or what happened to them during the war.

And he remembers too clearly the way Baekhyun wouldn't let go of his hand, kept tracing lazy figures on the back of his hand until his head lolled forward. "Okay. It's a sign. I have to sleep now," Baekhyun had said then, but still hadn't let go. Instead, he pulled Kyungsoo closer, pulled him down on the sofa bed, and draped his limbs all over Kyungsoo like he was trying to keep Kyungsoo from running away.

But _I'm_ not the one who ran off, Kyungsoo wanted to say then. He didn't. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned back against Baekhyun's chest, letting the warmth of Baekhyun's body crawl under his skin and prickle him all over, wrapping around him like a freshly woven quilt.

"Time to get up?" Baekhyun mumbles all of a sudden. Only then does Kyungsoo realize how close Baekhyun is, how Baekhyun has his face fit in the slope of Kyungsoo's neck, how Baekhyun's lips are pressed to the that junction of Kyungsoo's neck and jaw. "I don't want to get up yet. Still sleepy."

"Not yet morning," is all that Kyungsoo says in response. He rests his hands on Baekhyun's arms around his waist, breath hitching when he feels Baekhyun's muscles tense under his touch. "Get some rest."

Baekhyun murmurs something against the back of Kyungsoo's ear. He gives his lips a lick, the tip of his tongue grazing Kyungsoo's skin just a little. And then his humming's fading out into would-be snores if he didn't have his lips pressed to Kyungsoo's neck, if he just inched away like he used to.

Kyungsoo closes his eyes, tells himself, get some rest. You're just tired, radioactive. _Explosive._ You're tired and nothing good ever comes out of making decisions when you're worn out and–

"I can hear you thinking," Baekhyun grumbles. He pulls Kyungsoo even closer, then catches the base of Kyungsoo's ear between his lips for the briefest moment. "Shut up and just sleep."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath, keeps all the air in his lungs right there, left of his chest where he can feel his heart thumping wildly. And he's tingling from the sudden rush of cold, shaking all over from Baekhyun licking along the back of his ear and nibbling on it a little. Don't think about it, he tells himself, _don't you ever go there,_ because that's where trouble begins – when you start studying every single thing, every speck of sand on Baekhyun's skin and every quirk of his lips and _every light lick on his skin_ where Baekhyun leaves scars on. Every soft murmur Baekhyun makes against his skin now in the tight fit of their bodies, every steady _thump-thadump_ of Baekhyun’s pulse against his skin where Baekhyun has his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist.

When he opens his eyes wide and doesn't think of sleeping, thinking instead of why Baekhyun never looked over his shoulder after pulling away that day back in Sinyuk-ri, even if Kyungsoo called out his name for at least ten, fifteen seconds, fulfilling his side of the deal where Baekhyun said, _if you tell me to stay– I swear, Kyungsoo, if you ever tell me to stay then maybe, maybe I’ll–_

"I'm serious, I can hear you thinking," Baekhyun says again. He pinches Kyungsoo in his stomach, then says, "Stop doing that. Sleep. Tomorrow's a long day."

Kyungsoo snorts. Lets out all the air in his chest completely on accident and chokes on the last sliver of breath that leaves his lips. "Sorry," he mumbles in response and swallows all the other words knocking at the back of his teeth, threatening to pry his lips open and keep him awake for the next few hours.

He doesn't rouse again until hours after, with the sunlight filtering through the windows and drawing slabs of light on his skin. When he looks over his shoulder, Baekhyun's no longer there, not a trace of him in sight with the way that side of the sofa bed has been made up. Another sticky note, one that says, _STOP OVERTHINKING You'll never be better than me, anyway :P_ , written in thinner characters this time, like Baekhyun was in a rush to finish scribbling his message. Like he'd left it there just minutes ago and not as soon as Kyungsoo drifted back into slumber just a few hours past midnight.

Kyungsoo snorts and rubs his eyes. Looks like he's not getting answers anytime soon.

↮

The last hurdle Kyungsoo overcomes before reaching the city of Jeonju is a hill that Trapinch helps him climb, pulling him up by the front of his shirt and dragging him to a flat plain. His legs and feet ache from all the walking he'd done earlier, and his shoulders feel like they might give away anytime soon. Carrying a backpack for three, four straight hours while battling takes its toll on you after a while, makes you question some of the decisions you've made – why did I buy this many Potions? Why did I hoard berries before leaving Muan-gun? Why hadn't I asked earlier if Ralts could help me carry the bag using its powers? Where the hell did Baekhyun go again?

Kyungsoo laughs to himself. He hadn't seen any familiar figures earlier. Maybe Baekhyun's Taillow has already fully recovered from its battles and has flown him to the next city. Maybe Baekhyun's ahead of him again by a long mile.

The walk from the foot of the hill to the city takes only a little over fifteen minutes. Or even less, he soon realizes when the crowd slowly thickens and he starts seeing traditional Korean houses lined up along roads, clustered in tiny groups of five per block. It reminds him a bit of those days when they were studying Korean history back in school, that period that comes _before_ the formal Pokemon battling class. He'd be so distracted, his mind drifting to possible strategies that he can use against whoever he'll be battling on the next period. The professor would always call his attention, stand right in front of him and ask him something about whatever they'd discussed just minutes ago.

And then he'd look down at his notes, scouring for answers until Baekhyun reaches over to tap on a single item in his notebook. "Jeonju-si is famous for its vast berry farms and produce," Kyungsoo would answer, then, and the professor would let him off the hook. Then he'd look to his side, in Baekhyun's direction, and find Baekhyun doodling various Pokemon on _Kyungsoo's_ notebook.

He still has that notebook hidden somewhere in his room, and all those notes Baekhyun had passed him in class. The silliest one was, _I should probably pee before battling, yeah? Or else I might piss in my pants._ And then one of the tougher messages to decode had to be, _Yes or no? :)_

"I guess you're looking for the Pokemon Center?" comes a voice from beside him now. It isn't familiar, nothing he's heard in the recent past, so he looks to his side and cocks an eyebrow at the trainer he finds nearby. She's wearing a bandana on her head and her sleeves are rolled back. Her rubber shoes have mud sticking to the sides. And she has a Torchic following her around, pecking at her calves and trying to lift itself off the ground by flapping its tiny wings. "Torchic, _how many times_ do I have to tell you, you can't fly–"

"Yes, I am," Kyungsoo replies. He moves forward, crouching so he can see Torchic better. Its feathers are a paler yellow– Or are they brighter? The sun's up too high and washing out some of its colors that he can't tell how it's different, but he just _knows,_ by the luster of the feathers, that something's different about– "Is that an alternate-colored Torchic?" he asks, then, leaning even closer as he examines the Pokemon. "I mean, the orange and yellow are reversed and he's _shining–_ "

"Yeah, he is." The trainer bends her knees and sinks to Kyungsoo's eye level, then ruffles Torchic's feathers. "Quite the catch. Quite the hard-headed Pokemon, too."

Kyungsoo looks at the trainer, _really_ looks at her now and takes in the details of her face. He'd only caught sight of the big 'K' on the side of the bandana earlier. From up close, he can make out the light curls of her hair, the way it falls on her shoulders and frames her face. Her eyebrows aren't furrowed, but they _are_ pretty stiff. Sort of like how a Pokemon reacts when its been discovered in the wild midway through hiding behind a bush. "Stop staring at me. You're weird," she says after a while, and that's when it hits him – memories of a visit to Jeju-do when he was still six, playing with a girl along the coastline and almost getting tackled to the sand by the same girl. Having to sit still while she tended his wounds with these tiny leaves from her Seedot because _you're so lame, you can't even fight back. I'm not weak, you know. And I was just splashing water on your face, geez._ Walking her to her house just a few meters away and having to hide behind Seungsoo because the girl's older sister seemed scarier than she already was.

"Soojung? Jung Soojung?" he asks. He leans back a little, putting some space between them, then continues, "You... lived in Jeju-do when you were you were still young, right?"

The trainer cocks an eyebrow at him and takes a deep breath. "No–" Her lips hang parted, like she's still trying to process Kyungsoo's words or maybe trying to come up with a cover up. Some people do that, create a new name and an identity for themselves when they feel like they have to move on from some dark past. And everybody has something to forget from those two cruel years that have plagued their minds, scarred them forever. But Kyungsoo can't be mistaken; he forgets names sometimes, but never faces. If he wanted to recall how Seungsoo looked back then, when they successfully dodged a bomb for the very first time, he could.

"–nobody calls me that anymore," she continues after a while. She lets out a long, shaky breath. Her lips curve into the smallest, faintest of smiles. It's almost as if it's taking too much effort from her to summon a smile to her lips, to let her guard down. She's always been that way, even when she was just a little girl. "I thought you looked familiar. Lame kid who tripped on his own foot back in Jeju-do?"

"I tripped on _a rock,_ not on my own foot."

"It was a _pebble,_ " Soojung groans. She locks her arms behind her back, stretching out, then takes a deep breath. "Krystal. Call me Krystal. Nobody calls me Soojung these days."

Kyungsoo nods, then takes a deep breath. "Got it," he whispers, then adjusts the straps of his backpack oh his shoulders. "So, where's the Pokemon Center?"

She looks up from where she's pulling down her shirt, then cocks her head to her left. "I'll take you there," she says, then recalls Torchic to its Pokeball. "I'm headed in that direction, as well."

The closest Pokemon Center is a good ten minutes away, just across the only Pokemon Mart in the city and a few blocks away from the city's open park. Beside it stands a tall, pale green building, made fancy by the golden pillars marking the doorway and the Pokeballs resting atop both pillars. The first gym, Kyungsoo says at the back of his mind. The first arena where he can truly test his skills and see if he's improved in the few days he's spent traveling from distant Mokpo-si all the way north, to Jeonju-si, a reminder of how Korea used to be.

"The other Center is up north, near the exit going to Geumsan-gun. That's another dry area, another desert. It's shorter and smaller than the one we had to go through on our way here, though," Soojung explains. She lays her bag down on the couch beside the healing station, then hands all four Pokeballs in her pocket to the nurse at the counter. _Strange,_ though – this nurse looks like Muan-gun's Nurse Jinri, down to the very last detail. They have the same shape of the eyes and the same soft, curious smile. They even have the same voice. Or maybe Kyungsoo's just seeing things, _feeling_ things. Maybe he hasn't recovered from yesterday's fatigue just yet. Maybe he still needs some rest and sleep, two things he cannot afford with the promise of earning a gym badge looming him.

He would have slept in if he could. But he has a mission to carry out and Pokemon to look after. Also, a rival to chase through the desert, in the hope that they'll meet again hours after in the same city, two trainers working towards a common goal.

"You can take a left at the junction, then go around the mountains. Gives you a better view but it makes getting to Geumsan-gun much longer?" Soojung pauses in her spiel, turning to Nurse Jinri with a curt nod. "Around three hours longer, if I'm not mistaken."

"But there aren't any Pokemon to see there," Kyungsoo answers. He shuffles to the front, then, and hands Nurse Jinri his own Pokemon for healing. "I checked the Gear and it said that the only Pokemon you can find there are Trapinch and Cacnea. And you can already get both from the deserts."

"Are you sure there are only Trapinch and Cacnea there?" Soojung asks. Cocks an eyebrow at him, too, as if questioning him, challenging him to dig deeper and scour the surface of his mind for more information he might be forgetting. But he _never_ forgets. “I don’t know, there’s been… reports of strong winds coming from there. They’ve been blowing in the direction of the desert. I’m pretty positive there are some strong Pokemon there, yet to be discovered."

Kyungsoo leans back, then nods his head in thought. He can feel his toes curling in without preamble, can feel the pulse in his palms quicken. And he can feel excitement brewing at the pit of his stomach, sizzling in tiny bursts of energy that are slowly crawling under his skin. "That explains the wild sandstorm. And the whirlwinds winds I saw last night."

"Whirlwinds? You saw more than one?"

"We spotted three," Kyungsoo answers. He flexes his fingers. They were just three small whirlwinds, nothing too alarming, but those three pillars of wind were arranged in such a clear figure of a triangle that it was difficult to not think of anything else. "Baekhyun and I, I mean. It was almost evening when we found it. The Pokemon ran away from the wind pillars and wouldn't even return to their old hiding places until ten minutes after. And then there was some talk on people spotting three... genie-looking Pokemon in the area."

" _Genie-looking?_ Pokemon?" Soojung juts out her bottom lip in a light frown. It takes away the years from her features, makes her look much younger than she really is. Sort of like she hadn't gone through some of the roughest days when she was still in Jeju-do. "I don't think the professor has any record on them."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. "I guess we're going around the mountain, then."

Soojung sticks around a little longer, until an hour after, as soon as she's done with her lunch and as soon as she's fed her Pokemon. "I'll see you around. Or maybe we'll bump into each other in the mountain," she says, then waves over her shoulder even before Kyungsoo can utter a word. Her steps are quick, light, almost like her feet aren't touching the ground. A complete contrast with Baekhyun's heavy footsteps, with the way Baekhyun drags himself from one step to the next.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. Clenches his fists, too, and tells himself, focus, Kyungsoo. You can't afford to be distracted now. _Focus._ There are Pokemon to be trained, a Pokemon League badge to be earned. There's a mission that he must carry out at all costs and there are information to be fed back to Professor Kwon's laboratory back in Mokpo-si. He can't waste time.

Two in the afternoon sees him traveling west, crossing the route between Jeonju-si and neighboring Iksan-si. The long stretch of grass under the railways is good for training, for easing Treecko, Ralts, and Wingull into battling a new set of Pokemon with entirely different attacks and types. They run into a couple of Zigzagoon, then a couple of Magnemites. Some Electrike and Voltorbs, as well, when they move further north and closer to the city. There's a huge obstruction just a few blocks away from the entrance, though, big, chunky characters on a signage telling them that there's an ongoing construction in progress. _We're sorry for the inconvenience. - S.M. Construction Corp._ Kyungsoo tries to crane his neck to see what's on the other side, just to check if there's anything beyond the railways and the tall buildings that he can't see from where he is, but to no avail – the signage eats up almost five feet of space and it's almost impossible to anything beyond the big board in front of him.

He takes a step back, then scoops Treecko back in his arms. "Maybe there are more Pokemon up north. Let's check," he tells Treecko, and Treecko only leans forward to poke his cheek with the stick between its lips.

"How did you–" comes an unfamiliar voice from a few feet away. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder, cocking an eyebrow at the stranger as he gives the man a long, careful look. He's dressed in black overalls, a red crest at the middle of his shirt the only mark on the otherwise plain attire. And he's wearing a black sailor cap. Maybe the man was supposed to take the same route to Iksan-si but somehow lost his way. Ended up here, exactly where Kyungsoo is, and is now wondering how one other person could make the same mistake. Or maybe Kyungsoo _isn't_ supposed to be here, but then– "How did you get in?" the man continues after a while, furrowing his eyebrows. Kyungsoo drops his gaze for a moment to the man's hands, clenching even tighter with each passing second as his knuckles turn while. "The roads are closed. You weren't supposed to–"

Kyungsoo parts his lips to speak, means to say, if the road leading to this dead end is supposed to be closed then the people organizing the construction should've at least put up a poster at the junction, hung it on the signage that said _This way to Iksan-si!_ But his words get pushed down to the pit of his stomach as he feels his feet being lifted off the ground, as he feels cool winds wrap around his toes, then his ankles, and then the rest of his body. The next thing he knows, he's nine, ten feet off the ground and his body feels as if it's being pulled in several different directions and his skin will be peeled off from his flesh anytime, and that he's being squeezed dry of everything he knows – the information about Pokemon he's just gathered, the years he's spent with Ralts. Tiny ripples of memories from when he met Soojung back in Jeju-do, then the day he saw Baekhyun again in Mokpo-si's seafood market. Bubbles of the times he and Baekhyun have spent together. And then the big wave – the day of Baekhyun's departure, having to watch Baekhyun run far, far way from the shore. Not seeing Baekhyun the following day and walking along the coastline all alone for the very first time in so long–

 _Shit._ "Treecko, get inside your ball!" Kyungsoo yells. He can't see clearly, can't even see a thing apart from the expanse of green and blue beneath him, or the faint, white wispy figure floating atop the mountain closest to him. He can feel the shift of Treecko's muscles against his chest, though, can feel Treecko slowly moving to Kyungsoo's side until it can reach its Pokeball with the tips of its toes. Kyungsoo's insides turn. He can't tell if it's from this height, from all the space between him and the ground, or maybe the sea. A bright, blinding red light covers Treecko soon after, pulling him back inside the tiny capsule, and Kyungsoo suddenly feels a bit too light.

The whips of wind wrapped around his wrists loosen. He breathes out a little, _tries_ to breathe out, but his chest feels so light and hollow and _empty_. His muscles feel so sore and he feels as if he's been beaten up, his limbs littered with cuts of varying lengths and depths. And his heart is racing in his chest. The next thing he knows, he's falling to the ground, the whips of wind that once help him up let letting him slip now from their grasp and howling at him as he inches closer to the ground.

The first thought that crosses his mind is _shit,_ I wish I washed the clothes I wore the other day earlier. His second, _shit,_ if I could only summon Ralts now–

He feels the same ripping sensation crawl under his skin, replaced only by the rough brush of blades of grass when he skids on the field. The heat of the sun catches up to him, wrapping around his nape and helping him loosen the tight knot in his throat, in his chest, left and center. He looks around, squinting when he feels light prickling the corners of his eyes. There's a huge, towering figure hovering him. Or at least it looks big from where he is.

And then he feels small hands touching his face, pulling at his cheeks and the poking at them. Ralts lets out a small cry, lilting when it makes the same sound another time. Kyungsoo reaches up in an attempt to cup Ralts' face in one hand, then, tries to check if Ralts has sustained any scars, but– "That was dangerous. You shouldn't have done that," he whispers. He blinks a few more times, trying to keep his eyes as wide open as possible, then adds, "What if you got hurt while trying to teleport me back here? You should have just saved your friends."

Ralts rests its red crown against Kyungsoo's forehead, then lets out a low groan. If years of friendship are anything to go by then Kyungsoo's sure, Kyungsoo's a hundred percent certain, that this is Ralts saying, _but you're my friend. And friends save each other's asses, right?_ "You haven't been feeling better these days. Be a bit kinder to yourself," he tells Ralts, nonetheless, then pushes his body up just a little until he can press his lips to Ralts' forehead. "That's what you always tell me, right? To take care of myself so I can look after all of you?"

Ralts blows a small purple bubble in Kyungsoo's direction, and when it touches the tip of Kyungsoo's nose it explodes into these tiny specks of light, leaving a light, cooling sensation on his skin. It tickles. "I'm serious, rest," he tells Ralts one last time. Finding enough energy, he props himself up against his elbows, wincing when he feels the deep cuts on his skin. "We can challenge the gym tomorrow; I want all of you to be in your best condition when we face the gym leader."

Ralts shakes its head. Bops Kyungsoo's nose, as well, with one hand, then makes pulling motions as if reeling Kyungsoo in, helping him get back on his feet. And it does. Kyungsoo feels some invisible force push him up, wrap around his knees and his elbows and cushion his nape until he's standing again, his limbs no longer feeling as sore as before.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself, just a faint sliver of laughter spilling from his lips as he extends his hand in Ralts' direction. Part of him wants to ask, why do you keep containing this power inside you? Why don't you just let it out, let it fuel you to grow and evolve? Why do you have to let the past tie you down to the old island we used to live in? But part of him also knows that if he ever parts his lips to say all those, Ralts will only look at him as if asking, why aren't you asking _yourself_ all these things?

Treecko bursts out from its Pokeball the very next second then looks in Ralts' direction. It holds out its right arm as if keeping Kyungsoo and Ralts away from _something,_ as if telling the two to get out, run away while they still can, _there isn't much time–_ This is how some Pokemon stay dangerously still on the ground in eternal defeat, how some Pokemon leave their trainers forever – overextend themselves and give this final battle their all, knowing that it will be their last.

Kyungsoo looks up at Treecko, then further north until he finds a Pokemon floating in the air, the bright rays of the sun washing it out. Its chest is a dark shade of green, its tail – or at least that's what it looks like– a deep purple. And it eyebrows are furrowed and it's growling at the three of them, the force of the sound lifting blades of grass off the ground. "Treecko, return!" Kyungsoo calls out, but Treecko ignores his command. Instead, it lunges forward, and then lifts itself off the ground before bouncing on its tail to spring itself even higher.

"Treecko, don't–" Kyungsoo moves forward, takes two quick steps closer to where Treecko is, but his limbs betray him. His knees wobble. And Treecko looks over its shoulder, flashing the brightest smile at Kyungsoo before being cloaked by a thick sheet of white. A sphere of life.

He catches Ralts' faint cry in the background. Watch him, Kyungsoo says in his mind, tells Ralts through the invisible thread connecting them with each other, _watch Treecko cast aside every ounce of doubt and fear and take that leap of faith._ He hiccups. His throat feels dry. His chest is heavy. And his eyes hurt from the bright light that Treecko gives off as its body grows longer, its thick tail thinning into blades and leaves growing from its wrists. A long, red leaf grows from the crown of its head, falling back to its nape and almost meeting its tail. And Treecko is grinning, like it's been waiting for so long for this exact moment – to evolve in the middle of an important battle, trying to save its trainer's life.

Treecko – no, _Grovyle_ – lets out a low cry as it lands on its feet. It drops the stick it had been hanging onto for a while now to the ground, then clenches its hands into fists. The edges of the leaf blades shooting out from its wrists gleams in the heat of the sun. Its entire body glimmers in the sunlight, in broad daylight where Kyungsoo can marvel at how his Pokemon has come.

But there's no time to sit around, no time to marvel at the Grovyle that his little Treecko has become. There's a Pokemon to be warded off. There's a battle to be won. So Kyungsoo calls out, "Grovyle, use Screech then try to hit it with Leaf Blade!" Presses his feet down on the ground even more to regain balance, to try to battle alongside his Pokemon.

Grovyle looks in Kyungsoo's direction for the briefest moment, and then its running again in the flying Pokemon's direction. Grovyle opens its mouth and lets out a shrill sound, the waves cutting through the strong winds surrounding the Pokemon and taking it down to the ground. But the Pokemon doesn't give up so easily, fights back as it pushes itself off the ground and charges towards Grovyle. "Quick– Dodge it and use Screech again! Don't come too close until you bring it back down to the ground!"

Grovyle nods. It kicks itself off the ground again and runs, fast on its feet, then launches a sharp cry in the hope of weakening the opposing Pokemon.

The battle lasts for ten long minutes, with Grovyle alternating between its Screech attack and slowly whittling down the opposing Pokemon's health with its Leaf Blade attack. Kyungsoo manages to hold his Pokedex up against the Pokemon, hoping to get information on it that might help Grovyle, but to no avail – the Dex can't even identify the Pokemon, simply takes a picture of it through the camera at the back. Soon, the Pokemon flees, disappearing in the vacuum of the whirlwind until it fades out into thin air, until Grovyle falls back to the ground, lying flat on its back, chest billowing.

Kyungsoo crouches and reaches out, extending a hand in Grovyle's direction. "Good job, partner," he whispers, offering a smile, and Grovyle lets out a loud yet choked cry in response.

Grovyle takes Kyungsoo's hand without hesitation and pulls Kyungsoo down to the ground with it. Kyungsoo makes no effort to get up, instead guiding Ralts to settle beside them, their bodies facing the sun. They stay there for a few more minutes, until Kyungsoo feels the thumping in his chest still and the tension in his shoulders lift. Until Grovyle lets out a low chuckle, then reaches up to ruffle Kyungsoo's hair. It's almost as if Grovyle's saying, _I promised to take care of you, right? Did you think I'll ever break that promise?_

Kyungsoo shakes his head and pulls Grovyle back up with one hand. On the other, he holds onto Ralts and closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath as the same ripping feeling wraps around him, pushes and pulls at his skin and lifts him off the ground, as it carries him back to solid ground, two feet away from a familiar building and a bit too close to certain familiar face.

"What the fuck did you do this time?" Baekhyun asks, face scrunched up.

Tried to 'catch 'em all,' Kyungsoo almost says. He doesn't. Instead, he saunters forward, his hands still locked with Grovyle and Ralts' own. And he lets Baekhyun take his bag off his shoulders as they make their way inside the Pokemon Center, away from the chaos near Iksan-si and just a bit closer to home.

↮

"I dunno if you're stupid or _just really stupid,_ " Baekhyun mumbles. He raises his right hand, the ice pack he's holding dangling in the air, poised to chuck it at Kyungsoo, but instead he walks closer and presses it to Kyungsoo's cheek. It makes Kyungsoo shiver, makes his insides turn, makes him too aware of the warmth curled on his nape. Makes him realize the very little distance between them – Baekhyun with one knee pressed to the bench Kyungsoo's sitting on, and Kyungsoo leaning back but not quite pushing Baekhyun away.

"The signage is there for a reason," Baekhyun continues after a while, two minutes after the topic has ceased to become relevant. He hasn't stopped pressing the ice pack to parts of Kyungsoo that's scarred – his arms, the dip of his chest. His thighs and knees. Some three, four centimeters from the left corner of his mouth where he almost took an Air Slash to his cheek. At least it looked like an Air Slash. Ralts had successfully diverted the attack elsewhere but ended up having to contain the excess energy in its body again. "Seriously, what were you thinking? Why the hell were you even there?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He parts his lips, stretching his mouth at the corners, and winces when he feels a sharp pain shoot up and along his jaw. "The only signage that was up when I went there was the one near Iksan. I turned around when I saw it but came across this weird guy. And then the next thing I knew, I was facing one of those genie-looking Pokemon Soo–Krystal was talking about." He scratches a line along the slope of his neck, just a light graze of the nail on his skin. It leaves a ring of a shiver around his neck, stunning him for a split second until he's breathing again. "So I'm not stupid. It was just unfortunate that I had to be there at that time."

Baekhyun looks up, looks at him in the eye, and then draws the ice pack close to this chest as he shifts in his position. He seethes at the sudden brush of cold to his skin. Kyungsoo capitalizes on the brief moment of surrender, then, steals the pack from Baekhyun and leans back until he can feel his back hit the wall. There's a good six inches between them now, enough for his shallow breathing to ease into something better. More relaxed. Or at least until Baekhyun reaches out to examine his hands.

"A genie-looking Pokemon? No info on the Dex about it?" Baekhyun asks. He draws Kyungsoo's hand closer to his face, like it's the most interesting thing in the world. Traces lines on every part of the back of Kyungsoo's hand that isn't covered in scratches, as well. "Have you contacted Professor Kwon about it?"

I would've, if you let me, he wants to say. He doesn't. He swallows the words down, instead, and chokes on his own spit like that can ever be better than letting Baekhyun know more than he should. "Not yet. But I've connected my Dex with the Center's communication system so she should be able to access the new data." He drops his gaze to the bulge in his pocket. "Can you call her about it, just in case? It's not the first time the genie appeared in front of people. I've heard residents of Jeonju-si talk about it. Krystal has, as well."

Baekhyun hovers for a moment, then reaches deep in Kyungsoo's pocket to pull out the Pokedex. He's pressing down on Kyungsoo's thigh with his free hand – for balance? For more heat? To know whether Kyungsoo is telling the truth or not? Kyungsoo can't tell yet. His body still feels too weak from the battle he's just come from and the veins in his temples haven't stopped throbbing since they got to the center. All he's certain of right now is that there's someone calling through the PokeGear and that maybe he should take the call. There are only a handful of people who know how to reach him, after all – Seungsoo, Professor Kwon, Krystal after she'd asked for his contact number so they can keep each other informed on any sightings of the genie Pokemon. Baekhyun isn't even in his contacts.

And yet they bump into each other too often. And yet they cross each other's paths more than they should. Part of Kyungsoo wonders if Baekhyun keeps an eye out for him, but _nah._ Baekhyun wouldn't. He wouldn't waste time watching over someone and lugging around his feelings with him as he travels from one city to another, not after Baekhyun left him in Sinyuk-ri that day. Baekhyun would never look back.

Baekhyun flips the Dex open, then squints his eyes at the profile displayed. He scrolls through the data – taking the information in, maybe. Studying it like any good trainer would, preparing himself for when he runs into a similar-looking Pokemon. "Looks like a genie, al–" Baekhyun stops midway through as he shifts his gaze to the left, cocking his head in accord. A small, slow-forming smile creeps to his lips, then, and pulls up at the corners of his mouth hard enough to reach his eyes. "You keep these things, huh?" he says, holding up Kyungsoo's own Pokedex in Kyungsoo's direction. The sticky notes dangle from the back of the cover, glaring at Kyungsoo in neon colors. Kyungsoo gulps hard. "Do you look at them when you feel like getting a bit sentimental?"

"No. And I don't get sentimental," Kyungsoo argues all at once. "I keep everything I get from people. Don't get too cocky." He means, I _do_ keep all my gifts close by, even those from people I’ve been wanting to forget for a while already. He'd yank the Dex away from Baekhyun, would snatch it at the first opportunity, but his limbs still feel sore and his back feels as if it might break anytime. The stretch burns whenever he tries to reach out, when he tries to lean forward until he can grab something, _anything._ When he tries to make his hands useful instead of just staying in one place and not being allowed to breathe.

"Can you pick up the call on my Gear? Might be Professor Kwon," Kyungsoo asks after a while, breaking the spell. He looks away, dropping his gaze to his scarred knees. He can still feel the weight of Baekhyun's stare, though, can still feel Baekhyun's warm touch through the fingers skating across his skin, tracing lazy figures on his thigh. "Then show her the Dex entry."

Baekhyun looks at him for a moment, just looks at him, with his bottom lip jutted out. He isn't blinking. His chest isn't even heaving. Around them, Kyungsoo can hear the bustling of people just beyond the doors of the center. Everyone's moving on and around too fast. And they're still stuck here, Baekhyun with his hand on the PokeGear on Kyungsoo's thigh and the sticky notes peeking from where they're stuck to the flap of the Pokedex. "Baekhyun, _the call–_ "

"Right," Baekhyun mumbles. He pulls away, dropping his gaze to the Dex entry one last time. Or was it to the sticky note? Kyungsoo can’t tell. Baekhyun gives the display of the PokeGear a gentle tap, then, and clears his throat before speaking into the receiver, saying, "Hello?"

Two beeps, then a familiar female voice. "Hello, Kyungsoo? This is Soo– _Krystal._ I saw the genie Pokemon on my way to Iksan-si. No Dex entries about him–"

Kyungsoo's eyes widen in thoughtless response, then he mouths at Baekhyun, _let her speak._ Baekhyun holds his hands up in defense like it makes a difference. Maybe on a normal day, it would, but right now even breathing takes too much effort. "Kyungsoo's... resting," Baekhyun says after a while, interrupting. Kyungsoo still gets the few details Soojung mentions, though – the genie Pokemon looks as if its been weakened. There are more of it but she doesn't know exactly how many. Each genie wears a different color, representing an element or something close to it. Like they're guardians, and they're warning humans about what is to come. Kyungsoo shivers a little. Baekhyun clears his throat, turning his head to the side, then adds, "He ran into the genie Pokemon earlier. He... sustained a lot of wounds."

"He's still alive, right?" comes Soojung's voice, faint and soft from the other end of the line. Distance softens the hard edges of her words, somehow. Makes them sharper sometimes, as well. "Who is this? How did you get his Gear–"

Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow before bringing the receiver closer to his lips. He doesn't answer yet, doesn't even motion to open his mouth, but instead he looks at Kyungsoo like he's asking, who is she? He doesn't. Instead, he just stays silent a little longer, letting the white noise crackle in the line. "I'm Baekhyun, Kyungsoo's childhood friend," he replies after a while, drawling the syllables for _childhood friend_ somewhere along the way. "And he asked me to take this call. He's listening to the conversation right now."

"Oh. Great," Soojung says. A deep breath, then, "Are you two still in Jeonju-si?"

Baekhyun nods, forgetting for a moment that Soojung can't see him. "Yeah," he answers after a beat, when Kyungsoo snorts. He holds up his middle finger in Kyungsoo's direction. "The Pokemon Center. I'll be sending the images to Professor Kwon after this and maybe we can compile our observations before calling her up to ask what she wants up to do about the genie Pokemon."

"The _trio,_ " Kyungsoo amends. He takes a deep breath and slumps in his seat. There's a dull ache in his jaw that isn't from keeping himself from saying things he doesn't want to say. "They're a group of three Pokemon. I haven't seen the other two yet but I remember seeing two other hazy figures behind the genie after it took another Leaf Blade to the chest from Grovyle."

Baekhyun leans back for a moment. He turns off the speakerphone all of a sudden, drawing the Gear closer to his ear so he can hear better. Something in his eyes glimmers, and a corner of his mouth curls up into the goofiest smile. His cheeks are flushed a nice, warm pink. And he's drumming his fingers on Kyungsoo's thigh. "Yep, we'll wait for you in the Pokemon Center, the one close to the gym. He's lying on a bed meant for Pokemon, yeah," Baekhyun says, then leans away from Kyungsoo when Kyungsoo _manages_ to reach out and jab his arm. " _I know,_ I just caught myself a weird legendary Pokemon that talks and punches like a human being!"

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. At the back of his mind, he whispers, I'm not yours, but a stronger, louder voice in his head drowns it out, counters it, pushes the tiny voice to the very back of his mind and holds it in place. "You don't catch legendaries; you tame them," he whispers in a voice so faint he might not have caught it, himself, if he hadn't felt the vibrations in his throat. It happens sometimes – he hears himself only when Ralts bumps its red crown to his cheek, when Ralts makes him aware of his own thoughts. He cracks his necks and shakes the thought away. "And the ice in the pack is melting. You should get that replaced."

 _Yes, princess,_ Baekhyun mouths at him, then sets his PokeGear down on Kyungsoo's thighs. Kyungsoo doesn't miss the way Baekhyun splays his fingers there a second longer than he should, the way Baekhyun hovers just before pulling away and turning on his heel.

Doesn't miss the way the thrumming in his chest rings in his ears, drowning out the four words he's been wanting to tell Baekhyun for the longest time – _talk to me now._

↮

Soojung arrives at the Pokemon Center twenty minutes after, her arms lined with tiny cuts and an x-mark drawn in red ink on her cheek. She isn't wearing her bandana anymore; it's wound around Torchic now. Maybe she'd used it to shield her Pokemon with earlier. "I know, my hair's a mess," she says as a greeting, but Kyungsoo doesn't really mind. He can see the light furrow of her eyebrows, the downward tug on the corners of her mouth, the tremble of her bottom lip when she gives Kyungsoo a once-over and says, "Man, you look _awful._ "

"Thanks," Kyungsoo says in response, then leans into Soojung's touch when she ruffles his hair. He runs his fingers through Torchic's feathers. "Is he alright?"

"Yup. No wounds, no scratches. It's my Nuzleaf that's terribly injured. I already got him checked by Nurse– Oh, sorry." Soojung shifts in her seat, inching away from Kyungsoo when Baekhyun cuts between them, placing a basin with ice on the desk beside the bed. "That's a lot of ice. I don't know what you're trying to achieve."

"Numbing him until I can punch him in the face for being stupid without him complaining," Baekhyun answers all at once. He takes a deep breath, then mumbles, "Taking care of the silly kid, too. Do you need anything for your Torchic? Medicine? Candies?"

Torchic dances on its feet at the mention of the sweet treats, then starts pecking the back of Baekhyun's hand. It shouldn't be too painful, just a playful display of appreciation, but the contact leaves soft red marks on Baekhyun's skin and makes his grip of the twisted towel in his hand loosen just a bit. " _Easy._ Lemme just–" Baekhyun begins, but Kyungsoo grabs his hand and pushes it away, keeps it pinned to his side while he reaches for the front pocket of Baekhyun's bag just a foot away.

"Hey, I'm the doctor and _you're_ the patient. You shouldn't be moving around," Baekhyun grumbles. He bites the inside of his cheek, twists his mouth, _frowns._ He looks like a kid who's been robbed of candy. Like he doesn't really want to hand his candies over to Torchic. Like he needs it more than the injured Pokemon does. He lets Kyungsoo reach for the treats, anyway, Pokeblocks of all colors and flavors. He doesn't tear his gaze from Kyungsoo, though, even as Kyungsoo lifts the pink Pokeblock and brings it closer to Torchic's mouth.

"Save the blue ones for Kyungsoo," Baekhyun mumbles. He dips the towel in the basin with ice-cold water, then twists it until the bundled up towel isn't dripping anymore. _Kyungsoo,_ the human, looks up, cocks an eyebrow at Baekhyun as if asking for an explanation. Baekhyun grins. "My Lotad. He likes the dry Pokeblocks, for some reason. That weirdo."

A few feet away, Soojung snorts. She stretches her arms up, tiptoeing as she does so, and lets out a low grunt when she hears her bones crack. "You named your Pokemon after him?"

"Well, Lotad sorta looks like Kyungsoo – big eyes, blank stare–" Kyungsoo reaches for Baekhyun with his foot, sizing up the distance between them before kicking Baekhyun in his side. It shouldn't hurt, not with the very little effort he can exert, but it's enough to make Baekhyun yelp in pain. "What the fuck? I wasn't saying anything bad! I was just _drawing a parallelism_ between your stoic face and the weird look on Lotad's face–"

"You just likened me to a Pokemon. That you called 'a weirdo'. Thanks, bud," Kyungsoo mumbles. He gives Baekhyun another kick in the waist, but pulls him close by his shirt with his toes. "I hope your Lotad grows into the best Pokemon it can be."

"It evolves into a sad-looking Lombre after a while. I guess it really _is_ you."

"It also grows into a dancing pineapple," Soojung comments. She holds up her arms in defense when Kyungsoo turns to her with a sharp gaze. "Don't let your friend near the water. You wouldn't want to turn him into a dancing pineapple."

Baekhyun widens his eyes for a second, just a second, and then he's bursting into a peal of laughter. He's balling his hands into fists, curling in on himself as he laughs. Slapping his thighs, too, when he unfurls and starts wheezing between bouts of laughter. Kyungsoo takes a sharp, deep breath. This is the first time in years that he's heard Baekhyun laugh like this – loud, bright, _ripping_ through his ears, obnoxious. Uninhibited. The war has taken some of Baekhyun's laughter with it, after it hit South Korea hard and left scars on everything it touched, but maybe Baekhyun snatched that vessel of laughter back at the first opportunity. Kyungsoo won't be surprised – Baekhyun _is_ stubborn, after all. He's stubborn and maybe a bit too reckless for his own good. He gets himself into too much trouble, berates himself when he drags his Pokemon along with him. But he hasn't stopped yet. And the thick blades of laughter slice right through Kyungsoo, leaving scars even nastier than the ones he'd gotten from the battle earlier on his skin. Marks that he know will never fade, not when he bumps into Baekhyun more often that he finds edible berries lying on the ground. Not when almost everything reminds him of Sinyuk-ri and all those days when he and Baekhyun would walk along the coastline.

"I will never look at you the same way again," Baekhyun whispers, _wheezes_ when he finally resurfaces. To Soojung, he says, "I like you. You're not afraid of this guy." He looks to his side then nudges Kyungsoo, just a light push enough to let him feel the slide of their bodies. And he stares. He keeps his eyes locked onto Kyungsoo's eyen as he says, "I really, really like you."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, worries his bottom lip. He gulps hard. Only then does Baekhyun's gaze shift, dropping to the movement in Kyungsoo's throat. "We should contact Professor Kwon soon. Before the genies start attacking more people," Kyungsoo says after a while, his voice cracking towards the end. His throat feels dry and tight; his chest, oddly heavy. And then there it is, the push and pull of cold in his hands, the cool pads of his fingers feeling like shards of ice against his palms when he curls them in. Baekhyun inching even closer and snaking his hand up Kyungsoo's thigh again, and the gentle lift of Soojung's eyebrow as she keeps her eyes on them. " _Right now._ "

"Right," Baekhyun mutters, then gives Kyungsoo's thigh a gentle squeeze. Then he's pulling away, getting back on his feet and turning on his heel to reach for his bag. "I'll just use my Gear. Are you guys okay with that?"

"Yeah. We're good," Soojung replies. She gives Kyungsoo a long look, then gives in to the light curl at the corners of her lips. "We're good with that."

Professor Kwon isn't surprised when they break the news to her. She tells them there have been sightings of the Pokemon before, that this is probably the third time their office has received reports on the 'genie-looking Pokemon' that have been roaming South Korea for the past two months. "These pictures will help. Thank you very much," she says, looking at Kyungsoo and offering him a curt nod. "I can't imagine how you managed to snap a picture of the Pokemon when all the reports were saying that it's an incredibly violent Pokemon."

Kyungsoo laughs a little, then tries to lift his scarred arms to the web cam's eye level. Baekhyun had set the room for a video conference earlier; Soojung called it 'showing off' while Baekhyun called it 'just really being techie'. "It is. It's a miracle I survived," he says. He lets out a long exhale. "Ralts' Teleport really saved me back there. I– _We_ wouldn't have made it out alive without her help."

Professor Kwon raises her eyebrows and leans back, like she's trying to get a better look at Kyungsoo. She won't be able to; the distance between them sets their limits, traps them inside the tiny frame that the web cam can cover. "She still hasn't evolved?" Professor Kwon asks after a while. Kyungsoo shakes his head. "How is she?"

"Good," Kyungsoo replies. Doesn't say, there's so much power in her that she doesn't want to let out. And she's afraid. Very, very afraid. Professor Kwon doesn't have to know that. Trainers are supposed to solve their own shit before involving other people in their problems. And Kyungsoo didn't want to do such a shoddy job at being a trainer and a partner to his Pokemon. "Grovyle evolved after that match, Professor, though. He's feeling better than ever. I've recorded his information in the Pokedex, as well, the moves included–"

"How is Ralts?" Baekhyun asks him now in a soft, soft voice, almost as if he's whispering. Or maybe even breathing. Kyungsoo can't tell the difference right now, not with the pulse in Baekhyun's palms drumming staccato beats on that part of him where Baekhyun has his fingers wrapped around. "Aside from the obvious 'she's recovering in the infirmary'?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, tries to go back to that encounter with the peculiar genie Pokemon and the way Ralts had looked up at Grovyle in awe. The way Ralts marveled at Grovyle like it wanted to be just as good as its new friend, its _partner's_ other Pokemon. The way Ralts released more of the energy it's containing in its body and the way Ralts was able to teleport them to a place much farther from where they'd been attacked, the longest distance Ralts has traveled thus far.

"Better," he says, then offers a smile. He doesn't look at Baekhyun in the eye just yet. He doesn't even know why. "She's doing much better now."

Baekhyun nods, then turns to face Professor Kwon again. "So, what do you want us to do, prof?" he asks. His lips are turned down in a light, light frown, but the tension in his eyebrows has finally lifted. "I mean, we can't really capture it so you guys can study the Pokemon because that will destroy the balance of n–"

" _Balance,_ that's right," Professor Kwon whispers. She looks at something on her table, her fingers moving like she's sifting through the pages of _something_ the rest of them cannot see. "I have a feeling that this Pokemon, this… genie – this Pokemon that might actually be a legendary Pokemon – that you're dealing with, is trying to say something. Trying to warn us about something to come."

"Yeah, like 'even more injuries'," Baekhyun murmurs. Professor Kwon doesn't quite catch that, but Kyungsoo does. They're close enough for Kyungsoo to hear even the tiny gurgle lodged in Baekhyun's throat. "Like, a natural disaster or something? Another war, only worse?"

" _Maybe,_ " Soojung answers. Slowly, she pushes herself off the stool she's leaning on. "The sudden downpour the other day, that wasn't normal. Sure, we get heavy rains in summer, but that was too much. Water-types enjoy the rain, but all the Lotad and Surskit I saw kept trying to look for shelter from it. It couldn't have been a good sign." She takes a deep breath. "Then I saw some of the plant life in the forest die as soon as the rain poured down harder. I got a burn from it, too, right here–" She pulls her hair back, then cocks her head to the side. There's a smidgen of red and black on her neck. It's nothing like the scars Kyungsoo has sustained from the battle, but then it isn't something you'll get on your body from being drenched in the rain. It doesn't make sense. "And then the week before that, the waves were unusually strong. Winds don't blow that hard in these parts, especially during summer."

Baekhyun tilts his head to the side. "What time did the acid rain thing happen? I got out from the forest just after noon. Kyungsoo got out much earlier, I think. We ran into each other in the Center."

More like, they had a habit of tripping on each other's paths. It's both hilarious and strange. Kyungsoo doesn't say anything about it. Instead, he adds, "My Wingull wasn't so happy about how damp the ground was the following day. You'd think Wingull would be glad that the ground is cool, but he wasn't."

"A little past midnight, actually, that was when it happened. And I think the concentration of the strange rain was just in the forest, because when I got out of the forest the mark no longer burned," Soojung explains. She tucks her hair behind her ears now, then looks back up at Professor Kwon's image on the wall where her side of the video call is projected. "We can try to collect more information on this. I'm sure a lot of other trainers were still out at that hour. I know a group of trainers that started their journey, as well, but they came from Busan."

"Busan?" Baekhyun asks. He turns to look at Soojung. "There was something about a heavy downpour there in the news this morning. _I think so,_ at least. I'm not sure if I heard it right." He shifts his gaze to where Kyungsoo is, meeting Kyungsoo's steady, unwavering gaze. "I was pretty disoriented then."

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing. This is no time to be making fun of Baekhyun remembering every single thing that they've done together in the past twenty-four hours. And this is no time to be remembering the same thing – the way Baekhyun's warmth seeped into his skin and kept him warm throughout the night, even with the cool wave of fatigue prickling his skin. So Kyungsoo adds, "Yes, it was in the morning news. The anchor even mentioned that the rainfall that time was almost as much as the total monthly rainfall for Busan during the peak of the rainy season." He can still recall the images that flashed on television that time – waters gutter-deep only two minutes into the start of the downpour, the strong winds almost breaking trunks and branches. Families seeking higher ground, inching away from the coastline and seeking shelter deep into the big city.

Professor Kwon nods, takes a deep breath. "I'll get in touch with the team in Busan. In the mean time, I want you three to be alert at all times. _Do not_ engage the genie Pokemon in battle if you don't want to break a bone." She shifts her gaze to Kyungsoo, then cocks an eyebrow at him. "You're Pokemon trainers, not heroes. Don't do anything that will harm you and your Pokemon."

They nod in unison, and the display fizzles out. Beyond the window, rain begins to pour in a light drizzle. "I guess we're stuck here until the rain passes," Baekhyun mumbles after a while, then slumps against the wall. He's close enough that Kyungsoo can reach out if he wants to, but then there's no reason to do so. There's no good reason for them to be too close, especially with all these wounds on Kyungsoo's skin. It doesn't make sense. "Any good ideas?"

"We rest and we sleep until the rain subsides. And then we go out to train," Soojung says. She lifts her backpack, gripping the straps tight, then drags it closer to the door as she prepares to exit. "I'm staying at the common room. You'll know where to find me."

The door shuts closed behind her. There's another bed in the room, the one that doesn't have Baekhyun's jacket and his belt pack on it. Baekhyun had reserved it for Soojung earlier, when they got back to the Pokemon Center. His plan has been foiled; Kyungsoo can’t tell if he’s happy with that or he isn’t. Baekhyun retreats to his bed, then, sitting on the edge and letting his legs dangle. They wobble as he pushes them forward, pulls them back, and then forward again until the tips of his feet touch Kyungsoo's bed.

"So, it's just you and me now," Baekhyun whispers. Kyungsoo shivers, sniffles when he feels the sharp line of cold shoot up his spine. "What do we do now?"

We talk, Kyungsoo is tempted to say. He doesn't. Instead, he leans back against his pillow and tilts his face up. The ceiling is too white, too bright. Kyungsoo narrows his eyes a little, trying to adjust. "We do what Krystal said," he answers. He pulls his blanket up to his chest, and then further up until he can feel the soft material against his skin. "We sleep until the rain subsides."

"That's all?"

Kyungsoo shifts a little. When he turns to look at Baekhyun, he finds Baekhyun unmoved, still dangling his legs off the bed, still staring. The light furrow on his eyebrows is gone now, though, replaced instead by a gentle lift and a small curl at the corners of his lips. "Seriously, that's all you want to do?" Baekhyun asks again, slowly, this time, enunciating his words better. It's not hearing that Kyungsoo's having difficulty with; it's stilling the thumping in his chest, the thundering pulse at the back of his knees, his elbows, his ears, in his sweaty palms. "Because technically, we have the whole afternoon–"

"Tell me about Sokcho-si," Kyungsoo whispers. He licks his lips, then gives his bottom gentle nips until he feels the surface smoothen, the bumps from all those days that he hadn't been taking care of himself fading into the smooth pink of his lips. "What you did there before moving to Mokpo-si."

And then in tiny text, breathed out in a whisper – how you learned to move on from Sinyuki-ri so easily. How you learned to let go. Why you even ran away.

Baekhyun's lips fall open into a tiny 'o'. His chest isn't dancing to the usual steady rise and fall of his shoulders. And he's blinking once, twice, thrice, until he's nodding and falling back into his bed. He rolls over so that he's lying flat on his stomach, then rests his chin on his clasped hands. "It was nice. Lots of water and yummy food. They have really great fried chicken there," he begins, then hums again. He licks the corners of his mouth and smiles a little, like he can still taste the flavor of Sokcho-si's signature fried chicken. It must be really good. "Seoraksan's really nice, too, if you have the patience to climb it regularly. It sorta changes its appearance every season, it's almost insane."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. "Did you take pictures?"

"Yeah," Baekhyun answers. He juts out his bottom lip. "Everything's with Baekbeom-hyung, though. He wouldn't let me bring my camera on the journey because he said all I needed was the Dex. Which makes sense, actually, _but–_ Ah, oh well." He buries his face in his pillows for a moment, then resurfaces with his hair even more tousled and fatigue pulling down at his eye bags. "They're not really that good. The pictures, I mean. The place is amazing."

Kyungsoo shifts on the bed, trying to lie on his side to he can see Baekhyun better. Or hear him better, at least. He only ends up wincing in pain all the more, though, feeling the shift of the sheets against his skin. "Stop moving," Baekhyun mumbles, then stands from where he is. The first thing he does is to reach out, to hold Kyungsoo down on the bed and pin him with a gaze. The second, to lean close and whisper, " _Or else._ "

Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him. Gulps down hard, as well, trying to loosen the tight knot in his throat. Trying to breathe life into it because it feels so dry right now. Tight and dry and tense from the lack of breathing space between him and Bakehyun. "Or else _what?_ "

"Or else–" Baekhyun stops, hovering, his warmth a looming presence over Kyungsoo. Not this shit again, a voice at the back of his mind says. Baekhyun had pulled the same stunt on him before. Too many times, in fact, that Kyungsoo knows just by the subtle twitching of Baekhyun's eyebrow if Baekhyun really will lean in until their lips brush, or if Baekhyun just wants to close in on Kyungsoo. Box him out so that no one else can come close. Baekhyun is the vast body of water around Sinyuk-ri, keeping Kyungsoo from leaving. And when Baekhyun moved away, when Baekhyun swam all the way to the other side of Korea, he took all the waters with him and left the perimeter of Sinyuk-ri barren, dry, _thirsty._

Three soft knocks on the door, then Baekhyun's jerking back and pulling away. Kyungsoo breathes out, long and hard, and clenches his fists. _Wrong move._ His wounds feel like they're tearing him apart all the more. Then Soojung pops back inside, saying, "They're serving some hot soup in the pantry. And real food, too." She leans against the frame of the door, eyeing the narrow space between Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, the growing distance when Kyungsoo shifts in his position so that he's facing Soojung. "Early dinner, if you guys want? Can you get up, Kyungsoo?"

More like does he want to get up and get out of his trap. Soojung's eyes are whispering the same words. Kyungsoo nods, then pushes the blankets down until they're pooled at his feet. "Yeah, that would be great."

Baekhyun looks to his side and holds out his arm. He waits there, stays still until Kyungsoo grips his arm tight, until their bodies bump and Baekhyun's warmth catches on Kyungsoo's skin again. Kyungsoo can feel his knees weakening. So he snakes an arm around Baekhyun's waist for support, rests his hand on the jut of Baekhyun's bone and begins to walk forward, one step for every beat of Baekhyun's pulse in his palm against his arm. He leans into Baekhyun's warm touch, the snug fit of Baekhyun's arm around his shoulder, the way their bodies align.

↮

The rain subsides just before nine in the evening. Baekhyun's still doing the dishes with Nurse Jinri, after losing to Soojung in kai bai bo. Kyungsoo's back on his feet, but he sticks close to the benches even as he watches his Pokemon practice their moves at the back. "Tighten your focus, _then_ launch your attack. Accuracy over number of hits, Grovyle. Accuracy and power," he calls out. To Ralts, he says, "You can't keep storing your energy in your body all the time. You have to let it out."

"Are you even supposed to be out here?" comes a familiar voice from a few feet away. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder and addresses Soojung with a nod. "And aren't they supposed to be resting? You said you won't be letting them battle until tomorrow morning."

"They're stubborn. You know how Pokemon are." He locks his arms behind his back, stretching, then groans when he pulls too hard at a muscle. "And they're still pretty revved up from the battle this afternoon. Grovyle's got too much energy. He needs to channel it into _something._ "

Soojung laughs a little, then settles beside him on the bench. "Torchic, Nuzleaf, come out," she says, then, voice soft and faint. The two Pokemon emerge from the beam of light, then cling to Soojung's ankles as soon as they see her. "Do you want to help them out?"

The two beam up at Soojung, then run to where Grovyle and Ralts are. Kyungsoo summons Wingull as well, telling it that it's okay to dance, "Practice your aim with your Wing Attack. I'm sure Ralts will be happy to help."

The silence thins after a while, with Soojung speaking mindlessly about her encounter with the genie Pokemon. "You're lucky to have Ralts by your side. Anything could've happened if she didn't teleport you out of the route in time," she whispers. Kyungsoo only nods in response because what else is there to say? He hates the feeling of his skin being ripped whenever Ralts teleports him from one place to another, but he hates the sting of the cuts all over his body even more. And between being teleported to safety and being caught in a whirlwind, he'll take the weird sensation of being teleported over the scars any day. "But she... sort of seems out of control? Look at her crown. It's–"

"–been glowing a lot, I know," Kyungsoo begins. He extends his legs in front of him, slowly unlocking his knees, still testing his limits. The pull on his thigh muscles still stings, but this is a great deal of progress. It took him a good fifteen seconds to switch between standing straight and sitting two hours ago, after all. "She doesn't want to evolve," he continues after a while, pausing to blow at his bangs. Soojung inches closer. Her gaze hasn't waned yet. "But I think she's more... comfortable with the concept now, after seeing Grovyle evolve. She was there to witness it earlier, during the battle. Grovyle evolved right before her eyes."

Soojung hums, nodding in accord. A few feet away, Wingull accidentally hits the branch of the tree nearby and knocks it down to the ground. Ralts waves its arms in the air as if saying, _nothing to see here! I've got everything under control!_

That's the problem, Kyungsoo wants to argue. Ralts has been keeping everything in for the longest time. It's only a matter of time until Ralts explodes, blows itself up. Lets itself be consumed by the power it's been trying to choke down since the end of the war.

"I can see that. She hasn't stopped watching Grovyle… polish his Leaf Blade attack. She looks pretty–" Soojung worries her bottom lip, squinting a little as she tries to come up with the perfect word for it. "Mesmerized?" she tries, but quickly shakes her head. She scoffs. "I don't know how to phrase it. It's pretty complicated. Sort of like she idolizes him but, at the same time, admires your Grovyle in a different way? Does that make sense?"

There's the sound of something crashing behind them, and then Baekhyun's high-pitched scream. Kyungsoo isn't sure which to be worried about – Nurse Jinri giving Baekhyun a long talk on proper handling of dishes and _not_ rushing into things or the dishes falling to Baekhyun's feet, leaving tiny gashes on his skin. He shakes that thought away, shrugs it off until Soojung's nudging him in his side and blurting out, "Smitten."

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Smitten?"

Soojung nods, then cocks her head in Ralts direction. Wingull's still practicing its Wing Attack, targeting the leaves Ralts is controlling and setting afloat in the air. Ralts' entire body is facing Wingull and to anyone, anyone who hasn't seen Ralts grow, it would probably look as if Ralts has its full attention on Wingull, but there's no mistaking the subtle twist of its body. The gentle shift of its gaze from Wingull to Grovyle and back again. The way Ralts stretches out its right hand in Grovyle's direction when Grovyle almost slams into a tree and injures itself.

The faint sound of Ralts' happy cry when Grovyle gets back on its feet and walks in their direction, helping out Wingull with its attack.

"I don't know how to deal with Pokemon romance," Kyungsoo mumbles. Or tries to say, at least, because soon his words are cracking into garbled sounds _and then_ blooming into laughter, just loud enough for his Pokemon to catch and shake their heads to. "It's great that her crush on Grovyle's doing her well but Ralts is a _feeling Pokemon._ I don't know if it will help her in the long run."

Soojung hums. Flexes her fingers, too, and wriggles her toes as she yawns. "Ralts is a feeling Pokemon, exactly that," Soojung says, voice lilting. She shifts in her seat, turning to her side to face Kyungsoo. "So she'll probably pick up on what her trainer and his other Pokemon are feeling. Maybe she can still sense the fear in you, that's why she won't evolve. Not doubt – I don't think she doubts your faith in her. Doubt is easy to get rid of, but fear–"

"Is crippling," comes another voice from behind them. This one, Kyungsoo knows so well. He's spent years falling asleep to this voice, has spent years waking up to the nagging memory of it. He moves closer to Soojung, then, and cracks his knuckles. Tries to relax his fingers at the very least. Baekhyun plops down beside him unceremoniously, groaning as he does so. "But hey, they all look happy. Ralts looks like she's having fun with– _Whoa._ "

"What do you mean 'whoa'?"

"I thought she couldn't get more obvious," Baekhyun says, snickering. He turns to his side, folding his right leg under his weight and inching closer until his knee brushes against the side of Kyungsoo's thigh. He doesn't reach out yet. Kyungsoo isn't counting on Baekhyun to do so. And he isn't wishing Baekhyun would. "And honestly, I thought it was just a silly crush at first. But hey, look at her now, trying to woo the big boy."

Ralts isn't trying to woo Grovyle, Kyungsoo wants to argue. She's just aiding Wingull, helping Wingull perfect its aim. And following Grovyle with her gaze, but how can that be wooing someone? What if Ralts is just the type to look after other Pokemon since it knows how other Pokemon are feeling? What if it just wants to make sure Grovyle doesn't end up slamming its head into a tree trunk again? What if–

"Don't let her hear you. She'll get conscious and stop helping them out," Kyungsoo retorts. He shifts in his position, inching away, but the rest of his body pulls him down, roots him to this spot. There's nowhere to escape. A few feet away, Ralts covers its face with its hands when Wingull hits the tree too hard and ends up shaking up the leaves. They fall to the ground like specks of snow. Grovyle reaches out, flicking a leaf off of Ralts' crown. Ralts sort of... curls in on itself a little. Kyungsoo chuckles. "Or she'll just stop functioning altogether."

"Of course, you'd know that," Baekhyun comments. Kyungsoo only sneaks a glance at him from a corner of his eye, doesn't flinch when Baekhyun leans against his side and rests his head on his shoulder. This is normal now, so much so that Kyungsoo can't feel the distance that those long years have stretched between them. It's as if Baekhyun just... knocked them down, shot them to the ground even before they could get back at them. It's as if Baekhyun never ran away the moment Kyungsoo parted his lips to answer– "Like trainer, like Pokemon, right?"

"No," Kyungsoo mutters without a second thought. When he sees Baekhyun widen his eyes, he adds, "I mean, Ralts and I are two different entities. There are hardly any similarities between us."

"Wanna bet?" Baekhyun says, challenging. His voice lilts, cracks a little when it peaks like a boy still going through puberty. Maybe it's taking longer than the usual for Baekhyun to grow up. Or maybe Kyungsoo's just hearing things, tiny packets of sound from Baekhyun that Kyungsoo has been filing at the back of his head since they day they met. Baekhyun tilts his head up, then, the tip of his nose brushing against Kyungsoo's cheek. Too close again, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo says, screams, _whispers._ He can't tell at the moment. These days, it's been more difficult to hear his own voice above the thumping in his chest. It's been more difficult trying to distance himself from whatever feelings used to cripple him, the same old mix bag of emotions that fucked him up too many years ago back in Sinyuk-ri when he and Baekhyun were still walking along the same shore. "Seriously, wanna bet?"

Don't do it, a part of him says. You know how Baekhyun plays his games; nothing's ever safe with him. _Don't give in._ So Kyungsoo answers, "No, not with you," bites the inside of his cheek when he feels Baekhyun's muscles tense in the tight press of their bodies.

Baekhyun hovers for a moment, then looks back at the Pokemon in front of them. If Kyungsoo tries hard enough, maybe he'll hear Baekhyun whispering _oh, alright,_ under his breath. And maybe he'll feel the slightest brush of Baekhyun's cool fingers against his own on the bench before Baekhyun clasps his hands together.

And then Baekhyun's leaning in, pressing his lips to Kyungsoo's ear. "You're no fun," he whispers, then slinks right back to where he is, his head finding a comfortable fit where it's rested on Kyungsoo's shoulder.

The night passes in a blur. Kyungsoo remembers a few things – the fact that Baekhyun had already challenged the gym leader and won his first badge, the fact that the leader sent out this very annoying bug-type Pokemon that Baekhyun found difficult to take down. Baekhyun picking up Kyungsoo's hand as soon as Soojung excuses herself, tells them that she'll be turning in now. Baekhyun tracing lazy circles on the back of Kyungsoo's hand as he says, "Don't choke. I know you have a bad habit of choking your matches. I mean, the leader's tough but _come on,_ I didn't pick you as a rival for nothing. You can't be that bad." Their pulse both beating strongly against each other's skin and neither of them commenting about it because there shouldn't be anything weird about that, right? They are riding the tides of their Pokemon journey. They're excited for what is to come. The thundering pulse in their palms has nothing to do with Baekhyun's bright smile, or the way his eyes glimmer in the dark, before he throws the blanket over his head and says, "I'm counting on you. Don't let me down. Make me proud."

"Go to bed," Kyungsoo says. Doesn't whisper, you're tired, this has nothing to do with you, _you're not supposed to care._ It's one in the morning and he's challenging the gym leader at nine. In between, he still has to do some last-minute training, fill their bellies with delicious food, get in touch with Professor Kwon and stay close to Baekhyun. He'll need all the rest and strength he can get.

Much later, close to sunrise but not quite, Kyungsoo hears the shuffling of feet and bed sheets rustling from not too far away. He doesn't open his eyes, doesn't move, doesn't even budge when he feels soft lips pressed to his forehead. "Good luck," comes a faint voice, just barely above a whisper, and then everything stops – the rustling, the sound of footsteps fading into silence, the thumping in Kyungsoo's chest.

The door gives off a soft 'click'. The room feels cold. He doesn't need to poke an eye open to know that he's alone; the thick white noise all around him is enough a reminder of that. So he stays still, steadies his breathing until he falls back into a peaceful slumber.

He doesn't look at the bed beside his when he gets up. Instead, he saunters forward, walks past the doors and into the empty corridor. He takes a deep breath and clenches his fists, no longer sore from yesterday's battle, from Baekhyun's warm touch, from all the unspoken words Baekhyun has written on his skin.

He shakes his head. There's a battle to be won, a badge to be earned. Business as usual.

↮

The Jeonju City Gym looks rather bland and plain from the outside – pale green walls, two golden pillars guarding the doorstep, a short red carpet rolled out in front. The signage isn't tattered, but the edges look so worn out, chipped in some parts or lined with shallow cuts on the metal. It looks like it has seen better days, and maybe it has. Out of all the gyms in South Korea, it's the only one that hasn't gone through a major renovation after the war. The stone walls still stand tall, still guard the Pokemon and the emblem of success in the gym leader's possession. A building as unassuming yet as tough as bug-types, that's what most people call it.

Kyungsoo flexes his fingers, then runs his hand along the Pokeballs clipped to his belt. They've practiced long and hard for this battle. There's no reason for him to lose this fight. He can win this. He _has_ to.

He runs his Pokedex by the scanner, then inches closer to the door. Slowly, the doors slide to the side then give off a loud 'click' as the doors snap into place. He steps inside, then, blinking several times in an effort to have his eyes adjusts to the darkness all around him. There's no sign of light anywhere, no sign of _anything at all_ with all the shadows cloaking the walls of the place. If he's looking for a nice place to record a horror movie at then this is it – Jeonju City Gym, sitting right beside a Pokemon Center, standing tall with its pale green coat from the outside and trapping trainers with its thick shadowy arms inside.

Kyungsoo feels something sticky at his feet, holding him down to the floor – is it even a floor he's standing on? It almost feels as if he’s walking on a series of waterbeds, or even quicksand. "The last challenger almost bumped into a wall because he kept running around even if he couldn't see anything, says a voice from _somewhere._ Maybe from behind him, Kyungsoo muses as he hears the sound grow louder. He can hear footsteps now. He _is_ standing on solid ground, not some gimmicky floor panel that might transport him to a different place. He lets out a loud exhale. "You're the first challenger in a while who hasn't panicked after getting bathed in darkness. I'm rather impressed."

"Uh, thanks," Kyungsoo mumbles. He hasn't stopped looking around yet, hasn't stopped looking over his shoulder since he got inside in an attempt to locate the source of the voice. Above him, the lights flicker, and then they're beating down on him with their harsh force. Kyungsoo shields his eyes, squints, looks at his surroundings through the narrow parting between his fingers. The details are still a bit hazy, but he can make out a few things already – the blanket of web leading to the top where a figure stands, and then two other figures close to that web. Walls of honey all around him, and patterns the shape of honeycombs donning the walls.

And then a familiar face looking down at him, smiling at him. "Well, what do you know, little Do Kyungsoo's now going around for an adventure." The man goes down the steps of the stairs, stopping just before he reaches the edge of the web. "Send my regards to your brother. It's been ages since I've last seen him."

He scours his mind for the name of this person right in front of him, a man whose smile he recalls seeing more than once in Sinyuk-ri. The shape of his mouth almost like that of a peach, only sharper at the edges and not as round. His eyes disappear into slits when the corners of his lips pull up even more. And his hair is a mess. Kyungsoo remembers this well – this man's hair getting even more tousled in the wind, getting in his eyes. Seungsoo calling out to him, "Jinki! Yah, you're too slow! If we don't start picking berries now then we might lose the light–"

"Lee Jinki... hyung," Kyungsoo whispers. Jinki's one of Seungsoo's friends from middle school. Graduated top of the class and in Seungsoo's list of favorite people. Kyungsoo still remembers those days when Jinki would come over for their group study session and he'd take a break to talk with Kyungsoo about all sorts of things – the weather outside, how calm the waters are, the fact that he saw a Wurple evolve into a Silcoon under the tree in the Sitrus berry field at the back. His insurmountable love for bug-types that he can call Weedle 'cute'. "It's... been a while."

"A decade, right? I always knew we'd meet again someday, though," Jinki says, voice lilting. He sits cross-legged on the ground. For a moment, Kyungsoo's concerned that the surface is still sticky, what with the honey that was pooling at Jinki's feet earlier, but Jinki doesn't seem to mind. "Seungsoo completely lost his interest in battling after the war, I take it? Did he realize it was really not his thing?"

Sort of, Kyungsoo wants to say. More like Seungsoo will never be able to get over losing his Jumpluff during the war, will never be able to forgive himself for even letting Jumpluff out of its Pokeball and letting it fight after taking so much damage already from cushioning one of the attacks aimed at Slaking. He nods, nonetheless, tries to offer Jinki a small smile. "He's more interested in developing vitamins and potions for Pokemon now," he says. "He seems to be happy where he is now."

Jinki nods. Laughs, too, for reasons beyond Kyungsoo. He'll never understand Jinki completely, not even when they've already shared so many memories with each other just bonding over Pokemon. Jinki's... sort of like a Metapod – you think it does nothing, just sits there staring at people until it evolves into a powerful Butterfree, but it doesn't. It studies its surroundings before attacking, makes sure it’s in the best possible position to score wins. Jinki's like that, in a sense – the unassuming secret weapon, Jeonju City Gym's leader and keeper of the Cocoon Badge.

"Glad to know," Jinki replies, then flexes his fingers. He stretches his arms in front of him, the gentle, beaming look on his face slipping into a more calculated one. Practiced, less natural, but certainly more authoritative. Back to work, a part of Kyungsoo says. He curls in his toes a little. "You know this part now, don't you? You have to make a decision, Kyungsoo. Do you want to take on the junior trainers first, in preparation of the final gym battle, or do you want to jump straight into your gym leader challenge?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He's seen how both pan out already, or at least he's seen it on videos, heard about it from stories going around. The normal practice is for lesser-experienced trainers to challenge the junior trainers first, then schedule a match with the leader the following day. The more experienced ones take on the gym leader challenge at the first opportunity. The gym leader gets to see the challenger's battling style and can find ways to counter it for the face-off the following day. At the same time, the challenger gets a good feel of the generic battling style of the trainers in the gym, how they use their Pokemon, how they get out of tight situations. Plus, the added experience is always good. But Kyungsoo doesn't have time on his side. There are those strange genie Pokemon on the loose that they have to study more and look into. He has a mission to fulfill. And half of his Pokemon team is weak against bug-types. Trapinch and Wingull are good counters to whatever the trainers and Jinki might have in their party, but Grovyle and Ralts are far more experienced when it comes to battling. The type-advantage might bog them down, but there's no denying the skill that the two have when it comes to beating opposing Pokemon.

He gulps hard. He only has one shot at this. Might as well make it memorable, right?

"I'll take on the gym leader challenge," he answers, tone firm and resolute. He presses his lips together in a small, tight-lipped smile, or maybe in an effort to keep his lips from trembling. He's doing a really shoddy job at it. "I'd like to challenge the leader of the Jeonju City Gym to a match."

Jinki snorts. _Grins,_ and then lets out a sliver of laughter. "Well, then, take your place on the other side of the field. Choose three Pokemon that you'd like to bring to the battle, then have the computer scan them. That way, the system will be able to track the Pokemon we send out later, and the damage being dealt to each of them."

It sounds too scientific, coming from Jinki, but then Pokemon isn't all about games and having fun. It's also about making predictions, reading your opponent's and his Pokemon's body language. Taking risks, and capitalizing on the smallest of holes in your opponent's play in order to find your win condition. So Kyungsoo unclips three Pokeballs from his belt, somehow wishing he'd brought the other Pokemon he'd caught earlier with him.

He shakes his head. Tells himself, there's no room for regrets, no room for self-doubt. He brought these four Pokemon with him because he _knows_ they can bring him to victory. He brought these four Pokemon with him because he's battled alongside them long enough to know what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to bypass their weakness to turn them into win situations. And he knows they will never let him down. He places the Pokeballs in their respective slots, then pushes the red button to start the scan. The computer gives off a faint beep, then, and the words _SCAN COMPLETE. TRAINER DO KYUNGSOO [SINYUK-RI] IS ISSUING A CHALLENGE_ appear on the screen to their side.

"This is your first gym challenge?" Jinki asks, looking over your shoulder. "Or have you earned other badges before?"

"It's my first," Kyungsoo replies. He swallows the acid in his throat, wincing at the line the liquid scratches along his skin. "The first of many."

"That's the spirit," Jinki says right back then turns on his heel, facing Kyungsoo with a big, bright grin. "Ready?"

No, not really, a part of Kyungsoo says, but he shuns that voice away. Instead, he answers, "I'm ready," nodding in Jinki's direction.

The buzzer sounds off. Jinki tosses a Pokeball in the air, and Kyungsoo grips the Pokeball in his hand tight. A sizzle of heat crawls up his spine, then plummets to his feet to burn holes on the soles of his feet. The red light from the Pokeball blinds him for a moment, makes his eyes burn, and then his heart is racing in his chest. He releases his Pokeball into the air without another thought, watching as the capsule slips from his hands and pops open.

"What the fuck–" he mutters under his breath, then bites the inside of his cheek. If Jinki had every intention of letting Kyungsoo walk away with a badge with very little difficulty then he won't be summoning a Pokemon of this calibre. He won't be calling out a Galvantula as his first Pokemon, won't even be bringing any fully-evolved Pokemon into a battle _knowing_ that Kyungsoo is challenging a gym leader for the very first time. It's not fair – but maybe it is. Maybe Jinki thinks Kyungsoo's smart enough to know how to counter this.

He looks at his Trapinch that lands on its four feet, then takes a deep breath. This is the best possible match up that he can face. If he can take down Galvantula then he can allow himself to breathe a little when Jinki sends out his next Pokemon.

Galvantula hops on its many, yellow feet, preparing to fire off Jinki's choice of a Pokemon move. Kyungsoo worries his bottom lip for a moment and leans closer, shifting his gaze between Galvantula and Trapinch. Trying to find an opening and a way to hit Galvantula without falling prey to whatever advanced attacks Galvantula might know. "Trapinch is a ground-type, though," he mutters his breath, "Which means–" Galvantula can't touch Trapinch. And it would be really, really great if Kyungsoo was able to train Trapinch beyond those one, two times that he needed Trapinch to knock over a thick boulder.

"What now, Do Kyungsoo? What are you planning to do?" Jinki calls out from the other side. He wiggles his eyebrows at Kyungsoo. "Are you playing out everything in your head before you attack, just like your brother?"

He lets out a low exhale. I'm not my brother, he wants to tell Jinki. He and Seungsoo are nothing like each other. Seungsoo thinks about every single thing too much; Kyungsoo's only ever careful when it comes to Pokemon. In everything else, he's a reckless. He's a wreck–

"I'll do the honors," Jinki says. "Galvantula, Bug Buzz, now!"

Galvantula steps back, and then it's rushing in Trapinch's direction, its sheer size making Trapinch take a few steps back until it's cornered against the wall. Think, Kyungsoo, _think,_ he tells himself, again and again until he can hear his own voice better. He did well back in trainer school; what's keeping him from excelling now? "Trapinch, use Dig to dodge the attack!" he calls out, then, and it only takes a split-second for Trapinch to register the command. It burrows its way deep into the ground, boring a big hole in the gym. Galvantula stutters in its steps, then, trying to slow down and stop before it falls into the hole. It misses the trap by just an inch. Kyungsoo seethes, groaning through gritted teeth, until it sees the crack on the ground just a few feet away from Galvantula.

Don't surface yet. Wait for the right moment, Kyungsoo whispers at the very back of his mind. If he calls out the same strategy then Jinki will know what he's up to, or at least how he's planning to maximize the temporary veil of protection Trapinch has managed to cloak itself in. If he doesn't then Trapinch might pop out of nowhere, but– "Trapinch isn't like that," he whispers to himself, voice so soft he could've been just breathing. "If I were Trapinch then I'll stay under ground until I can't hear Galvantula's steps anymore–"

"You're going to wait this out, huh?" Jinki crosses his arms over his chest. "Very well, then. Galvantula, fire your Bug Buzz into the hole so you can force Trapinch to come out!"

 _Shit,_ Kyungsoo almost says, but he knows better than to curse in front of a League official during battle. Instead, he bites his lips and scours his brain again, trying to think of something his little Trapinch can do against a fully-evolved Galvantula that probably has a plethora of moves in its arsenal. Galvantula moves closer to the hole, its mouth open and poised to let out a buzzing sound, and then it hits Kyungsoo – if he fires off an attack, a _ground-type_ attack, while still buried deep into the ground, there's a chance that it will be twice as strong as it should be. If he’s able to pull it off, at least; the last ground-type Pokemon he tried to train was his brother's Donphan. And Donphan just kept steamrolling through all of its opponents even before they could react. It's worth a shot, though, so he takes a takes a step back, balls his hands into a fist, clears his throat.

It fucking _stings._

"Trapinch, use Bulldoze underground!" he calls out, his voice cracking when it peaks. His throat tightens around his words, but he chokes them out nonetheless, coughs when he ends and as he feels light tremors shaking up the ground. The Bug Buzz fired into the hole seems to have worked in his favor, even, as it has made the shaking more powerful. Less of a threat to Trapinch and more of a power amplifier. He can run damage calculations later, after the battle, just so he knows the chances of Bulldoze knocking out Galvantula when it's amplified by Bug Buzz, but right now he can't be bothered to think of anything else. All he can think of right now is Galvantula falling to its knees, legs shaking and electricity sizzling off its body. Galvantula almost crashing to the ground but not quite, _not yet._ Trapinch emerging from under Galvantula and landing a nice, clean Dig attack onto the opposing Pokemon. And Trapinch getting back on its four tiny feet, standing tall despite being much, much smaller than Galvantula.

Kyungsoo lifts his gaze, trying to check for _anything_ in Jinki's features. Jinki is shaking his head now, laughing albeit in soft, hushed tones. Taking a deep, deep breath and then letting it all out as he recalls Galvantula to its Pokeball in a faint voice. "Galvantula, return!" he says, voice echoing in the four corners of the gym.

Jinki shifts his gaze to Kyungsoo and cackles. "I take it back; you're different. You're not like your brother," he says, then digs his hands back in his pockets. "I like your style."

There _is_ no style, no semblance of a system to the technique he's just employed, but hey – he's up three Pokemon to two now against a gym leader. It hasn't even been ten minutes since the match started. So maybe he can let his guard down for a moment, pat Trapinch on the back, twirl it around until Jinki sends out his second Pokemon. Maybe he can give in to the allure of feeling good about this match, his Pokemon, _himself._

"Thanks," he mutters in response, smiling. He drops his gaze to Trapinch who's dancing on its hind feet, moving from side to side. "Can you still battle, buddy?"

Trapinch looks over its shoulder and gives Kyungsoo a nod. Stomps its feet on the already cracked ground, as well. It's almost as if Trapinch has been craving this for the longest time – the challenge, the competition, the thrill of going up against a force so powerful that it has to double its efforts just so it would win. As if Trapinch can feel every single emotion coursing through Kyungsoo's body at _this exact moment_ – excitement, the adrenaline, the drive to just keep going until his limbs give away. Until he loses hope and finds it in a vessel of opportunity, a spark of light.

"Alright. You're doing the next match," Kyungsoo whispers, just loud enough for Trapinch to hear. Trapinch twirls on one of its feet, then lets out a loud cry as it faces Kyungsoo. "Ready to battle?"

Trapinch nods. Kyungsoo clenches his fists. On the other side of the field, Jinki throws another Pokeball in the air, the light catching on the shiny surface of the capsule.

"Alright!" Jinki calls out. He's still smiling. The match isn't over yet. Kyungsoo can't let his guard down. "Let's battle!"

Shuckle comes bursting from its Pokeball clothed in bright red light. Or its shell, at least, because all that lands on the ground with a loud 'thud' is a red shell with white spots in certain places. Shuckle pops out the rest of its body, then, yellow legs and its neck stretching out after a while. "Time to play," Jinki calls out from his side of the arena. When Shuckle looks over its shoulder, Jinki gives his Pokemon a soft smile, then a curt nod. "You know what to do now."

Kyungsoo gulps hard. What does he mean _Shuckle knows what to do?_ Is this a classic scenario? Is Jinki always able to come back from being one Pokemon down in the second match-up with his Shuckle? Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and chokes when he feels his throat tighten. His chest feels so heavy. He knows Trapinch enough to be able to tell by its body language the best way to _make it attack,_ but the gentle cock of Jinki's head and the small yet knowing smile on his lips speaks volumes of how much Jinki knows his Pokemon, how he knows Shuckle inside and out, enough for him to give Shuckle free reign on whatever it wants to do to take Trapinch down. It makes Kyungsoo's familiarity with Trapinch's personality and battling style laughable. It makes him look and feel pathetic.

He shakes that thought off, cracks his neck. This isn't the time to doubt yourself, he whispers to himself, tells himself again and again until it's all that he hears above the loud, heavy thumping in his chest. He digs his nails in his skin, enough to leave tiny red crescents as proof of his struggle.

Shuckle withdraws itself from its shell, then lets out a loud cry as it emerges through the holes again. Around them, the ground shakes a little, enough to make Trapinch stutter in its steps. "Shell Smash," Kyungsoo whispers to himself as Shuckle begins to move from side to side, as Shuckle stands straight and faces Trapinch with a renewed thirst for battling. Almost as if it has just been reborn. And maybe that _is_ the case. With Shuckle's newfound power after using Shell Smash, upping its attacking power at the expense of its defenses, Shuckle might as well be an entirely different Pokemon now.

From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Trapinch's knees shaking. "It's alright. We can deal with this," he assures his Pokemon, then takes a deep breath. "If there's anyone who can take Shuckle down, it's you."

Trapinch lets out a low cry. It sounds like a groan, a complaint. Maybe Trapinch is telling him to cut the crap, be realistic. There's no easy way to take down a Shuckle with improved attacking power, even if its defenses have been lowered a little in exchange for better offenses. But Shuckle has no good way of damaging Trapinch. Or _does_ it, part of Kyungsoo asks. Trapinch is a ground-type; Shuckle is a mix of bug and rock. What will Shuckle do, attack Trapinch with a Struggle Bug, slowly whittle down Trapinch's health until Shuckle scores a critical hit?

Shuckle leans back, then opens its mouth wide. Purple liquid bubbles on it lips, and that's when it hits Kyungsoo – if Shuckle can't attack Trapinch directly then it might as well hit Trapinch through–

"Toxic, Shuckle, _now!_ " Jinki calls out from the other side of field. Shuckle hurls the purple liquid forward, chucking the lump of poison on Trapinch. Trapinch manages to dodge, moves to its side even before the thick, poisonous liquid can reach it, but Shuckle keeps up and crosses the short distance Trapinch has traversed in a blink of an eye. Fuck Shell Smash, Kyungsoo wants to say, wants to scream out, but what good will that do? Trapinch won’t be able to magically summon a barrier that can repel every Toxic attack Shuckle aims at it even if Kyungsoo complains about what Jinki’d ordered his Pokemon to do earlier. They can only keep running around for so long.

Unless– "No, that's silly," Kyungsoo murmurs to himself. He can't use the same technique as before, but the holes _are_ still present. So if Trapinch can just _bait_ Shuckle to come closer– "Trapinch, use Dig to dodge!" Kyungsoo calls out. Trapinch nods, burrowing its way into the ground as fast as it can. "Come back to the surface then dig again. Just keep doing it!"

From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Jinki furrowing his eyebrows. He's mouthing something that looks a lot like _what the actual fuck is he doing?_ Kyungsoo can't tell yet. With the lenses of his glasses already scratched his eyesight is shittier than ever, and it has become more difficult to focus on anything that isn't Trapinch digging in and out of the ground and creating holes all around the field.

He makes a mental note to send Jinki a basket of handpicked berries from the field at the back of the Pokemon Center after this match. Or at least apologize for the wreck he's made of the gym. Trapinch can fill the holes again with better ground, as well. He underlines that at the back of his mind twice, then blinks twice as he refocuses on the match.

A little over two minutes and a lot of running after, Trapinch emerges from the last hole it has dug and successfully dodges the Toxic Shuckle has aimed at one of the holes. It's glowing a light purple now, probably from having inhaled the fumes of the poison that it had eluded earlier. This can't be good. But Shuckle has weakened considerably, popping in and out of its shell like the very few seconds it spends inside actually helps it recover some of its lost strength.

Maybe it _is_ getting some of its health and strength back; Kyungsoo will never know. Even Pokemon professors have admitted to not being able to unveil all the secrets of Shuckle's shell yet. All the professors know is that Shuckle has sky-high defenses that make it impossible for most Pokemon to take Shuckle down–

"Shuckle, use Sticky Web to cover the holes–"

 _Fuck._ Kyungsoo seethes, inhales noisily through his nose. "Stop Shuckle by using Bulldoze!" he instructs Trapinch, then, curling his fingers even tighter in a fist as he inches closer to the field. Trapinch doesn't look over its shoulder in acknowledgement, but it does run forward and move from side to side, avoiding the holes until he reaches the middle of the field. Trapinch starts stomping on the ground, then, putting all of its power in a single attack that shakes up the entire gym. Kyungsoo tries to stay up on two feet, but to no avail – the force is too strong, sends him kneeling on the ground and pressing both of his palms to the surface in an effort to not topple over.

He squints when soil begins to lift from the ground, when the stomping intensifies and Trapinch lets out a loud, echoing cry. He can't see much, but he can make out Shuckle's figure swaying from side to side, can see Shuckle falling to the ground but not quite fainting yet, only down on both knees but still firing Sticky Webs in all directions.

The ground beneath Shuckle cracks. "Run!" Jinki tells Shuckle, screams at the top of his lungs, but Shuckle struggles to get up. The force of Trapinch's Bulldoze attack has taken its toll on the Pokemon, slowing it down and hitting Shuckle at the same time for super effective damage. Shuckle hasn't stopped trying to attack, though, alternating between Toxic and Sticky Web until a bubble of the poison reaches Trapinch and prickles its skin.

Kyungsoo sees Trapinch shuddering, shaking all over. The stomping has weakened, but Kyungsoo can still feel the force of Trapinch's Bulldoze attack, can still feel his knees shaking as he tries his hardest to stay keep his eyes on the match unfolding in front of them. And Trapinch is still standing. Each bubble of Toxic Shuckle aims at Trapinch stacks up, covering Trapinch in the thick purple liquid and _shit,_ Kyungsoo just wants to rush to wherever Trapinch is right now, wants to reach out and take Trapinch in his arms and tell Shuckle to stop, just stop attacking, Trapinch doesn't have to go down like this, not to poison–

Soon, the scene before them dissolves in a thick cloud of dust, specks of soil scratching Kyungsoo's skin and clinging to his hair. He squints his eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of Trapinch and Shuckle's figures on the field, but it's getting more difficult to see clearly at all with each passing second. So he closes his eyes. Takes a deep breath and hopes for the best, because no matter what the result he's still a winner in this battle – Trapinch had fun in the most unorthodox way, but it looked as if it was having the time of its life earlier as it was burrowing in and out of the ground, moving across the field like _this_ was where Trapinch belonged.

He clenches his fists now, digging his knuckles into the already loose ground. He can no longer feel the winds whipping against his skin, or even the strong shaking beneath his feet. The small sandstorm inside the gym has calmed down and the thick white smoke has lifted. He opens his eyes, then, poking one eye open first before blinking to refocus his vision.

"Both Trapinch and Shuckle are unable to battle," comes the voice of the battle system from a few feet away. Kyungsoo snorts, _laughs,_ shakes his head. When he looks up to search for Jinki's gaze, he finds him smiling. "The second match is a draw!"

He lets out a loud exhale but holds Jinki's gaze, furrowing his eyebrows a little as if asking for something he can't seem to enunciate just yet. All his words are lodged at his throat, trapped there until they're clawing at the walls of his throat and leaving nasty scars that will hurt for the next two, three days. Maybe even for weeks. And his chest that once felt so heavy and full now feels a tad lighter, like the specks of sand that had been lodged in his veins have now been flushed out.

"Go," is the only thing that Jinki says. Kyungsoo nods in a small gesture of gratitude, then rushes to where Trapinch is to scoop his Pokemon in his arms.

The third match is far less thrilling than the first two, but not any less intense. Leavanny is Jinki's last Pokemon and Wingull is Kyungsoo's own. Leavanny is wicked fast, packs a lot of power that compensates for how frail it is. And Wingull is tiny, sort of inexperienced. The type of Pokemon you'd think Kyungsoo has just picked up from a wild battle two, three minutes ago because it won't dish out attacks at once without dancing in mid air first. It works to Wingull's favor, though, disrupting Leavanny's offensive advantage and its momentum by circling the air again and again before rushing to where Leavanny is to fire off its Wing Attack. And then Wingull picks up its own momentum, finds the rhythm in its own movement as it alternates between twirling in the air and firing one Wing Attack after another in Leavanny's direction.

Thirty minutes – Kyungsoo notes to himself as he glances at the time stamp on his PokeGear. It takes thirty minutes to wrap up his first gym battle, thirty long minutes to earn his first gym badge. Fifteen minutes from when Trapinch had been recalled to its capsule for it to surface again, bursting from its Pokeball and settling beside Ralts to cheer Wingull on alongside the feeling Pokemon. Kyungsoo remembers it from last night's practice, when Wingull had a hard time controlling the direction of its Wing Attack. The tune Ralts sang sort of helped Wingull gain its momentum, helped Wingull know exactly when to simply start building the power in its wings and when to fire off the attack.

And it takes Ralts five more minutes, five minutes after Kyungsoo has deposited Trapinch and Wingull to the infirmary for healing, five minutes into them waiting for those two to recover, lounging at the back of the Center with Kyungsoo still running his thumb along the tiny badge in his hand for Ralts to walk up to Kyungsoo and poke it in its side. Ralts doesn't say anything, doesn't make a sound, only taps a gentle rhythm against Kyungsoo's bare legs until its entire body gives off a bright glow.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, grips the badge in his hand tight until he can feel his nails digging into his skin. "Are you sure you're ready?" he asks Ralts. "I don't want to force you– You don't have to rush–" Ralts shakes its head, beams at him for the first time since they'd gotten back to the Center. Kyungsoo leans even closer. The space between them thins to some three, four inches in between, and the light wrapping around Ralts' body is _blinding_ him, but he doesn't mind. The light is warm, almost calming. It almost as if Ralts is telling him, _it's okay now. I'm alright. If you believe I can let the past go then okay, I'll do it. I'll try to be the Pokemon you believe I can be._

Ralts leans forward and presses the tip of its crown to Kyungsoo's forehead. A weird, sinking sensation curls at the pit of his stomach at the same time that he feels warmth crawl under his skin. He shakes, shivers, curls in his toes. He hiccups. Ralts laughs a little, just a faint packet of sound spilling from its lips, and then Ralts is glowing even brighter. The light washes Ralts out, turns the gentle warmth into heat that prickles Kyungsoo's skin. He can't bear to pull away, though. This is Ralts seeking assurance from him that he'll be there by Ralts' side no matter what happens, that he believes Ralts won't ever go rouge. This is Ralts asking for a bit of the faith Kyungsoo has always had for his Pokemon. This is Ralts scouring the surface of the memories of the days they've spent together for the strength and courage it needs to give into the power that has been consuming it for the longest time.

This is him and Ralts growing together, growing out of their awkward skin from when they met more than a decade ago, Kyungsoo defending Ralts from the flock of Spearow that was attacking it, and Ralts helping Kyungsoo get up after, teleporting him to the Pokemon Center, staying with Kyungsoo long after Kyungsoo had recovered from the attack. This is them growing up as partners who have battled alongside each other and gotten each other through the war.

This is them growing as friends, as two individuals who have always found it easier to float back to the same shore and not swim away from it. This is them taking that one step forward, out of the waters of Sinyuk-ri and heading straight for the solid ground here in Jeonju-si.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. The corners of his lips pull up into a smile, just a gentle curl of the lip at first, and soon blooms into a grin when the prickling heat thins into air he can breathe in again. Then he opens his eyes, leans back a little to marvel at the Pokemon Ralts has become – bolder, tougher, wiser. Much, much taller and without the strange, protruding crown at the center of its head anymore. Kirlia kicks him at that, narrows its eyes at him, and leers. And Kyungsoo just takes Ralts – no, his _Kirlia_ in his arms, burying his face in its hair and whispering, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank _you._ "

The sound of leaves cracking beneath pressure, rustling, reaches his ears after a while. He looks up, looks at either side of him, but only finds a shadowy figure dashing off, retreating into the distance. His vision is shitty with water blurring his sight a little and the harsh sunlight is making it difficult for him to see anything beyond the flares in his eyes, but he doesn't miss the important details – the tuft of hair bouncing as the man runs off, the man's broad shoulders against the bright light of the sun, the short silver chain connecting the tiny Pokeball – or half of it, at least – peeking from the man's pocket to his belt loops. The subtle upward tug on the muscles of the man's cheeks, and the way the man risks a glance over his shoulder before turning at the corner.

He laughs to himself and reaches deep in his pocket, retrieving a Pokeball charm and running his thumb along the cracked surface. Some things never change. And sometimes, Kyungsoo muses, he doesn't mind. He doesn't mind the sickening constancy at all.


	2. sailing through the skies: the path to the second badge

When Kyungsoo reaches Iksan-si again, north of Jeonju-si and the same place where he'd encountered the legendary genie Pokemon the day before, the roads are no longer blocked. Or at least the signages have already fallen to the ground, knocked over and a bit tattered at the edges. There's a tarp just slightly rolled a few feet away, close to the entrance of the city. There are holes on it, big circles painting hollow marks on the surface. There's debris everywhere. It's almost as if someone walked into the huge party that was the city and got reprimanded for gatecrashing. Or maybe someone thought it would be great to wreck havoc on the path leading to the city that serves as the railroad junction for cities and neighboring counties. All for fun and nothing else. No big deal. The trains are still in one piece and running, after all; if the damage was awful then operations would have already stopped. Nothing to worry about.

He feels a Pokeball in his belt shake. It takes a few seconds for the motion to subside, for the weird, cool sensation wrapping around his ankles to lift. His stomach is still turning when he walks past the arc that marks the entrance to the city. He ignores it – _tries to_ – and doesn't groan when a kid runs into him, face burying in the material of his jeans.

Iksan-si is similar to Mokpo-si in a lot of ways, Kyungsoo muses. The streets are crammed with establishments and people. It's easy to get lost just moving from one place to another. It's even easier to get carried away by the wave of people when you're trying to move to the opposite direction, when you're trying to reach the Pokemon Center but end up at the Pokemon Mart two blocks away, instead. He has no qualms – he has to stock up on Potions and Pokeballs, after all. He'd already used up all the Pokeballs Professor Kwon had given him before he left Mokpo-si.

He laughs a little to himself when he recalls the notification that had popped on his PokeGear just this morning – his box storage is halfway full already and he has to keep track of the number of Pokemon slots left in it. It almost feels as if he's been on this journey for months already, not only a couple of days or even a week. It feels as if he's been traveling from one city to another, looking for Pokemon and looking for any sign of change in their normal behavior, for _years._ It almost feels as if he's been made for this, the whole 'being a trainer and catching 'em all' thing, like the world has been waiting for him to finally step out of his shell and into the light, take off to embark on a journey to be the best trainer ever.

Another similarity, Kyungsoo notes as he stuffs the won bills in his pocket and shuffles his way outside the Mart: the fact that he won't be staying here in Iksan-si for too long and that he's just here to jumpstart his journey to the next place where he can earn his second League badge – Tokchok Islands.

Getting to the Tokchok Islands, he soon discovers as he goes through his travel options on the Gear, takes more than swimming a few kilometers off-shore. He'll have to either take a left and head straight to Gunsan-si from where he is, or maybe even brave another desert and more mountains than his finger can count just to get to Nomsan-si. He'll end up at Tokkon-ni where he can take a ferry or a tiny boat to the islands, no matter which path he takes, but heading straight up north takes faster than if he goes left to pass through Gunsan-si _and then_ slowly make his way up. The ferry only sails every few days, as well.

"Three days, to be exact," Nurse Jinri answers as she hands Kyungsoo his Pokemon. Kirlia's Pokeball has finally stopped shaking. Maybe its still getting used to its new form, the new fit of its body inside the tiny capsule. Kyungsoo mumbles a faint 'thanks' under his breath and meets Nurse Jinri in the eye. "And I'd normally recommend trainers to just pass through the mountains since there's a man-made tunnel there where you're assured to not run into wild Pokemon, but there's been a bit of a ruckus there recently. The winds have been blowing stronger than the usual. The forecasters back in Seoul say it's still safe to pass through there but _I don't know..._ "

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows a little. His hands are still busy clipping the Pokeballs to his belt, but his eyes haven't left Nurse Jinri yet. He squints even harder, trying to find something, _anything_ that might give her away. Her lips are trembling but only a little. Her chest is heaving in tiny, shallow gallops. And she's shaking her head. Kyungsoo looks around, then, and inches even closer, stopping when he finds only four, five inches of space keeping them apart. "I've... heard a couple of things about a genie-looking Pokemon lurking in the mountains," he mentions. He sucks in his bottom lip. “Did you… see it, by any chance?"

Nurse Jinri's eyes widen. She leans back a little, blinks several times. Opens her eyes even wider, as well, like she can't believe what she has just heard. Or she can, just that she hadn't expected anyone else to know about it. There's a good reason behind it, Kyungsoo muses – Professor Kwon has requested them to not talk about finding the legendary genie Pokemon with others. She told them before hanging up, "If you must talk about it then do so in hushed voices. We don't want other people overhearing the disaster and panicking. That's the last thing we need right now."

"Did _you_ see it?" Nurse Jinri asks. Kyungsoo inhales, breathing noisily through his nose. He doesn't nod yet, doesn't answer. He only holds his breath in his chest until he feels so full, until the steady thumping inside him turns into something loud and powerful. It creeps to the back of his knees and makes his legs shake a little. "Because I didn't. I've only seen pictures. I... I can't even recall how it looks exactly, just that it's very scary-looking." She shakes her head, shudders. The hair on her arms stand. It makes Kyungsoo's stomach turn, as well. "Officer Victoria just alerted me about it and told me not to be too surprised if injured trainers suddenly come flocking to the Center for shelter. She said the police has been receiving so many reports on finding trainers passed out on the ground with so many cuts on their arms. Cuts too thin that they can't possibly be blade cuts."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath. His throat feels so tight, so dry. He bites the inside of his cheek completely on impulse and mutters under his breath, _shit._ "How's the investigation coming along?" he asks after a while, when he feels blood rush back to the tips of his fingers. "Did Officer Victoria mention anything about finding the real cause behind it–"

“We just know it’s the genie Pokemon. From the pictures. That’s– That’s about it." Nurse Jinri bolts up in surprise as soon as the doors of the Center swing open. She puts on her best, most behaved smile, but her cheeks are shaking. "I'll get you in touch with Officer Victoria. Wait at the corner. I just have to take this– Welcome to Iksan-si's Pokemon Center!"

'Waiting' turns out to be the longest thirty minutes of Kyungsoo's life. It isn't uneventful, though. He watches as trainers come pouring in, carrying different species of Pokemon and different injuries with them. He has his Pokedex at ready, recording information on the Pokemon he encounters and taking notes on the small differences he finds – the chip on the Pikachu's tail, the supposed brown of Zigzagoon's fur being more orange than brown. The scars on the Seedot's sides and the small tear at the tip of its leaf.

The horrified look on Soojung's face as she rushes to the counter and blurts out on one breath, "Please save Seedot. He's so severely injured, he can't even get inside his Pokeball anymore– The red light just makes him bleed even more–"

Kyungsoo winces. Calls out Kirlia, too, and whispers in its ear, "Try to see how you can help." He watches as Soojung hands her Pokemon to Nurse Jinri, as Torchic comes bursting from its Pokeball and cries out something that sounds a lot like an apology again and again. As Kirlia nuzzles the back of Soojung's hand before reaching out to place both of its hands on Torchic's slightly injured body.

Soojung looks up from where she's cradling Seedot in her arms, then risks a glance to her side. The hard corners of her lips ease into something softer, more relaxed as her eyes finds Kyungsoo's own. As Seedot starts coughing out, the soft, pink pulse coming out from Kirlia's hands healing some of the scars on Seedot's body. Her shoulders fall forward. She laughs. And then she's ruffling Kirlia's hair and telling the Pokemon, "It's alright now, buddy. Nurse Jinri and Chansey can take care of the rest."

Nurse Jinri smiles down at Kirlia, then offers a curt nod to Soojung. When she takes a step back and turns on her heel, Soojung lets her figure slump and slouches against the couch just beside the counter.

Kyungsoo doesn't approach Soojung. Not the best plan of attack, he muses as he keeps his eyes on her, studying the shift of her muscles as she buries her face in her hands but makes no sound. Her shoulders aren't shaking, though. She's just trying to breathe again, trying to feel her limbs and all the other parts of her that she thought she'd lost when Seedot came close to giving out completely. It takes a while for Soojung to resurface – seven minutes, give or take – and Kyungsoo shifts his gaze when he spots Soojung walking in his direction. He runs his fingers through Kirlia's hair and whispers, "Was the attack really bad?"

The corners of Kirlia’s lips tug down to a frown. Kirlia nods after a while, before breathing out in a low exhale and sinking into Kyungsoo’s touch. For a moment Kyungsoo wonders how terrible it must be to be able to read people and Pokemon's thoughts, memories, emotions. KIrlia makes it look so easy, but there's no denying the subtle trembling of its body where Kirlia is leaning its head on Kyungsoo's arm. And there's no denying the crack in Soojung's voice when she says, "Thanks for that little push back there. Was that Heal Pulse?"

"Just Kirlia doing her psychic thing," he replies, then pats the empty space beside him. Kirlia knocks on her own Pokeball and scurries back inside. Kirlia's always been a bit afraid of Soojung, for some reason. Kyungsoo laughs when the Pokeball gives a tiny shake. "Seedot should be fine, though. Nurse Jinri was able to restore my Trapinch after a really tough battle. Those Chanseys at the back are really putting in a lot of work."

"There's a little Happiny in training there. It's quite the healer," Soojung mumbles, chuckling. She settles beside Kyungsoo, then leans her head on Kyungsoo's shoulder. "The genie's getting stronger, Kyungsoo. it didn't attack me but it looked so out of control earlier while Seedot and I were trying to run away." She takes a deep breath, shakes her head, shuts her eyes as she does so. Then she starts tracing figures on a small patch of Kyungsoo's skin, like she's trying to write down what she cannot express in words. "I just feel that it doesn't want to harm people or Pokemon, but it has no choice but to do so? It must be guarding something. Or warning us about about something. It can't be far off. The last time this happened, the last time there was imbalance–"

"Was caused by a human. Humans. Two rouge trainers." Two of those silly Team Rocket people who were about the same age as he and Baekhyun were that time. They were a duo then, as well. They called themselves the keeper of the Earth and the Skies. Kyungsoo didn't get it – they had fire and electric-types in their arsenal. They could've chosen a better name. But that didn't matter. The day after they started hunting down the legendary Pokemon, it started raining so hard in Busan and there were flash floods. The week after, after those Team Rocket leaders were reported to have been spotted battling Heatran and trying to capture it, Mt. Pyre erupted for the first time in thirty years. And in the months leading to the start of the big war between humans and Pokemon, between those rouge trainers of Team Rocket convincing Pokemon that they were being unjustly controlled and treated as 'tools' instead of partners _and_ the trainers who had enough sense to take care of their Pokemon, Team Rocket leaders Turboblaze and Teravolt were able to lure thirty people into supporting their cause and help them track down all the legendary Pokemon.

A year after, they managed to capture all the legendary Pokemon. All but one – Arceus, the god of all Pokemon. Arceus frowned upon all that Turboblaze and Teravolt had done and took away their Pokemon, condemned them to a world of darkness and emptiness in Giratina's Distortion World. The legendary Pokemon were set free again and, together, they helped restore the wounded, the _broken_ world. They worked with humans, those who they felt had pure intentions and trusted them to do their part in helping put together the lost balance. It took a couple of months, almost half a year to bring back the peace that they lost to Turboblaze and Teravolt's crazy desire to rule the world and be the most powerful trainers – no, Pokemon _conquerors_ – in the world. It took another year for people to feel safe in the company of Pokemon again.

And then a tsunami came and swept over little Sinyuk-ri. And then Professor Kwon called for help and asked three trainers to set forth on a journey to see if balance _had_ truly been restored already. And then they encountered a legendary genie Pokemon trying to ward them off from entering Iksan-si, trying to tell them _something_ Kyungsoo cannot decipher yet. He's been trying to take a crack at figuring out the code, but all that sticks to him is the pain in his limbs and the harm that the legendary Pokemon has caused little Pokemon–

"A tsunami, and then strong winds," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. Soojung says nothing, just blinks up at him and cocks her head to the right. "And then strong rains in Busan _again–_ "

"There were also reports of an earthquake in Gangwon-do, close to Seoraksan," comes another voice. Kyungsoo looks to his side, then, tearing his gaze from Soojung's questioning eyes. Nurse Jinri isn't in her usual nurse clothes, favoring a loose white shirt and blue jeans instead of the pink dress all the Nurse Jinri's all over the country are made to wear. She still has her gloves on, though, and draped on her shoulder is a white lab coat peppered with tiny specks of gray. "Sorry for meeting you like this. I'm still on duty but the nurse dress got a bit too sullied so–"

"How many Pokemon are in there, Nurse Jinri?" Kyungsoo asks.

Nurse Jinri laughs a little. The light knot of her eyebrows ease into something more relaxed. "Fifteen? Twenty? _Fifty?_ I stopped counting after we had to empty out the second trainer lounge beside the infirmary." She settles on the space beside Soojung and stretches out her legs. "All of them came either from the route going to Pongdong or Gumsan, the mountain proper. Some from Daejeon, but most of them preferred to head straight to the Daejeon Pokemon Center. The team there has it worse."

Soojung furrows her eyebrows. "More injured Pokemon?"

Nurse Jinri nods, then adds, "And trainers. Even the trainers have been attacked. The younger ones still in trainer school but were practicing with their guardians in the routes are in a really bad condition." She clasps her hands in front of her, doesn't meet them in the eye just yet. Kyungsoo gulps hard and clenches his fists, trying to restore the feeling in his hands, but how can he? Every second they spend not alerting people about this legendary Pokemon attacking both trainers and the critters, another trainer walks inside the Pokemon Center with an injured Pokemon in his arms and an even more injured sense of security. Every minute they spend just trying to get more information on this Pokemon, the _phenomenon_ surrounding the attacks, they run into the risk of putting themselves in danger.

There's no winning this battle. Kyungsoo laughs to himself, _at_ himself. There's no way they can win this battle now.

Kyungsoo's PokeGear gives off a shrill ring, then Baekhyun's contact card pops on the display. "He's calling from–" He squints hard, trying to decipher the writing on the screen, the takes a sharp breath when his vision refocuses. "–Daejeon. This can't be good." He presses the red button of his Gear, then, taking the call. "Hello?"

"Fucking– _Hey,_ " comes Baekhyun's greeting, the weak grin on his lips taking up half of the screen. From beside Kyungsoo, Nurse Jinri approaches and hands Kyungsoo a cable connected to a tablet of sorts. She mouths something that looks a lot like _because the display of your gear is tiny as fuck._ He's pretty sure the last bit was supposed to be different. "I've been trying to get in touch for the past hour but connection here in Dajeon’s just so damn spotty. Electricity's been fluctuating, as well, and they're canceling train schedules left and right and–"

"They're canceling train schedules?" Nurse Jinri asks. She moves over to where Kyungsoo is and holds the tablet up in front of her, then motions for Soojung and Kyungsoo to move closer. "Even the ones going to Iksan? I mean, they can't possibly cancel trips to the main line–"

" _Especially_ the ones leading to Iksan. Apparently, the roads connecting the two cities are closed because of something that happened in the mountains?" Baekhyun replies. He frowns. He shifts his gaze a little to the side, in Kyungsoo's direction. "I was pretty lucky to have gotten through the mountain before the thing even happened... I don't even know what it is but the ground started shaking and I almost got buried alive so I tried to get out as soon as I could."

"There was an explosion," Kyungsoo answers. He takes a deep breath, squints until he can make out the lines on Baekhyun's skin, the red marks drawn along Baekhyun's cheek, his neck. They don't look like the fancy kind. They look _exactly_ like the ones Kyungsoo got the day before, the same scars that still haunt them long after he's left Jeonju-si. "Daejeon is in the news right now. Look behind you," he continues. Baekhyun does as he is told, and Soojung leans to the other side to get a better glimpse of what's showing on television – massive explosions at the entrance of the cave, the bridge connecting the village on Yonmu and the city of Nonsan collapsing. Pokemon and humans fleeing to open fields to avoid the debris. Injured trainers collecting their Pokemon in their arms and the police escorting them to the closest Pokemon Center that isn’t fully occupied, wherever that may be.

"Good thing I got out at once," Baekhyun says soon after, his words tumbling one after another in a voice so faint he could've been whispering. Or maybe just breathing; Kyungsoo can’t hear much, so he resorts to reading the movement of Baekhyun’s lips despite the choppy video, the poor reception. "Anyway, I got more pictures of the legendary genie. I'll try to send it over but I'll call up Professor Kwon right after this call. Gotta report to her the damage the genie has caused. Things are looking bad here in Daejeon–"

Kyungsoo parts his lips. Licks them and presses them together again when he fails to find the right words that he wants to say. There are words upon words knocking at the back of his teeth, threatening to spill from the corners of his mouth. He can feel them clawing at his throat as they slip down, can taste the blood in his mouth. But he swallows all the words down because _they don't matter anymore._ Baekhyun is alive and in one piece. He's talking to them. He's out of harm's way.

Still, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's head whispers, I'm glad you're safe. I'm glad you called. I'm glad you're _here._ Kyungsoo doesn't blurt those words out, though, doesn't echo them. Instead, when Baekhyun asks him, "Are you alright? You look weird," and flashes that knowing smile his way, he only answers, "Be more careful next time, kid."

"I will," Baekhyun answers, voice softening. It cracks at the last syllable, at the same time that his left cheek shakes as it pulls up all the more. "Don't worry about me."

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek. Beyond the tablet, the sound of an explosion comes from the television. There's another one at the end of the cave leading to Daejeon-si. Baekhyun's still smiling like him that nothing, no one else matters at the moment, not even that new explosion in Baekhyun’s area. Silly kid. "I'm not."

"Of course," Baekhyun whispers, then nods a few times. He doesn't tear his gaze from Kyungsoo, though, just keeps their gazes locked onto each other until the Nurse Jinri of the Daejeon Pokemon Center tells him that Professor Kwon is trying to get in touch with him, _could he connect her with the other people in the call, please and thank you._ "I'll just... fiddle with some wires and–" And Iksan-si's Nurse Jinri stands from her seat to crane her neck, check what's happening outside, to see if there's a ruckus or if any of the chaos in Daejeon-si has somehow found its way to their city. She gestures for Chansey and the nurse-in-training, Joy, to take over, tells them to be as nice as they can be when dealing with the trainers.

"If anyone from the Daejeon incident walks in, call me," she tells Joy, then turns on her heel to face Kyungsoo and Soojung. "This way," she then says, leading them to the office at the back where the controls for Iksan-si's Pokemon Center are kept, where she has access to the cameras in all the Pokemon Centers in Korea. "Iksan-si isn't called the Major Junction for nothing."

Soojung looks around the place and mutters, "Cool," under her breath. Kyungsoo eyes the screens on the wall, each showing a different Nurse Jinri and different sets of trainers walking in and out of the place. Traffic in Seoul is heavy, the turnaround quick. And the crowd in Daejeon-si is piling up, trainers coming in every few minutes.

"Are we connected?" he asks Nurse Jinri over his shoulder. She nods and gestures for them to take a seat on the couch just beside the wall of screens. Three, four screens turn into black, and then they're seeing Baekhyun on screen, along with Professor Kwon in a tiny box at the corner. Kyungsoo gives them both a wave. "Sorry for making you wait, professor. It took us a while to connect to the Daejeon Center."

"I've contacted KEPCo and asked them to reroute some of the energy on reserve to Baekhyun's site," Professor Kwon answers. She shifts her gaze a little – maybe she's looking at Baekhyun now. "Baekhyun, tell Nurse Jinri that the steady power will be on for the next three hours. After that, KEPCo will be cutting the emergency supply so they won't run out of reserve. Better make full use of it."

"Got it. Nurse Jinri's right beside me," Baekhyun replies. A hand pops up from his side, waving at the screen. Kyungsoo snorts; maybe Nurse Jinri's busy with a couple of patients off-screen. "You saw the pics I sent you, prof? This genie Pokemon that I saw back there doesn't look like the one Kyungsoo saw before. Based on descriptions, at least. The one I saw was a mix of orange and brown. Kyungsoo's genie is green and purple."

"The second in the trio," Kyungsoo mutters. Baekhyun looks up at the same time that Professor Kwon looks to her side. "Baek, you said you felt the ground shake when you were inside? Anything else?"

Baekhyun blinks a few times, pursing his lips as he does so. Kyungsoo drops his gaze to the gentle swell of Baekhyun's lips, the tiny red cuts on the skin, for the briefest second, and then he's leading his eyes north again, locked onto Baekhyun's own. _Focus._ "Weird voices echoing in the tunnel? I dunno, maybe that was just me imagining things. I can't remember much anymore. I was panicking."

Soojung snorts. Baekhyun holds up his middle finger in response, but quickly puts it down when Professor Kwon laughs. " _Anyone_ would panic when put in that situation," Baekhyun says in defense, then shifts a little in his seat. "And there were cracks on the ground to the actual city. I had to hop from one place to another just to get here. It almost looked as if an earthquake came with the explosions or something. The explosion has to be really strong for the tremors to create cracks _on the other side_."

Kyungsoo leans back and nods. He tears his gaze from Baekhyun's own, fixing his eyes on the news, instead. "An earthquake strong enough to cause fissure on solid ground," Kyungsoo mutters, then starts drawing figures on his thigh – waves close to Mokpo-si's shore, a line from Mokpo-si to Muan-gun, and then a spiral for the strong winds in the desert leading to Jeonju-si. A crack that looks more like a thunderbolt than anything else further north, in Daejeon-si. It's almost as if trouble's following them, hovering them and telling them something, _anything._

"It's almost as if all the forces of nature are against us," Soojung mumbles, then throws her head back. She closes her eyes and lets out a loud exhale. "Why now, though? The war's long over and balance has been restored–"

"Or maybe it hasn't," Kyungsoo interrupts. He turns to his side, facing Soojung. The scars on her cheeks are distracting, daunting, but Soojung doesn't seem to be in pain. If anything, the fatigue from her features has lifted, dissipating into thin air. Now there's nothing on her face but the determined furrow of her eyebrows and focus in the way she fixes her gaze on Kyungsoo. "After Arceus created time, space, and the great void, it created three guardians to link heaven and earth, three guardians to keep the balance between the gods and creation. They were unnamed, but there should be one guardian for the heavens, the skies, and the earth, guardians to watch over the inhabitants of the land. Gods to look over humans who may or may not believe in Arceus."

" _Raijin, Fuujin,_ and _Inari,_ " comes Baekhyun's breathy voice from not too far away. Kyungsoo nods. Soojung lets out a soft, faint breath, then mouths _right_ as she bobs her head. "So they _are_ trying to tell us something. Something about imbalance and all. But what?"

Kyungsoo shrugs. Offers a small smile because there's only so much one can deduce about all these natural disasters following them from one place to another, trying to etch a secret message on the ground in the hope of relaying whatever message they want to relay, to communicate. The easiest answer is 'maybe someone's trying to capture legendary Pokemon again', maybe someone's climbing atop shrines again in the hope of summoning the creation gods or the winged mirages. Maybe someone wants to trick people into thinking that pushing their Pokemon to the limit will lead them to a better life again.

"The... winds near Jeonju have subsided," Nurse Jinri reports to them. She looks up from her computer, then flashes the news item on the screen just beside Baekhyun and Professor Kwon's. "And according to people, the waters near Mokpo have calmed down, as well. I'm not sure if that's linked to the earthquake but–"

“ _And from the barren ground came rising the god of the earth, frowning upon its sons. Tells them, 'If you are to use your powers for what is wrong then be gone. Should you engage your talents in child's play ever again then say farewell to strength and power, your faithful friends’_ ," Professor Kwon recites. She takes a deep breath and laughs, the bright sound leaving her lips in a whisper. "It's been so long since I last picked up the book of legends but I'm sure, I am _certain,_ that the recent earthquake in Daejeon was caused by the legendary Pokemon Landorus."

Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow as the images come flooding in – him sifting through the pages of the book of legends and checking it out of the library for 'a bit of light' reading, the images of the earth guardian Landorus stopping the massive fight between its sons. The god of the skies, Tornadus, and the god of the heavens, Thundurus, jumping out at him and haunting him in his dreams. Baekhyun laughing at him for getting creeped out by 'some silly legend', but reading it with him, anyway. Acting out the legend with Sunyoung and Baekhyun as they run around in the beach. Seungsoo summoning them further away from the shore and closer to their houses because, "It's late and you shouldn't be playing out here anymore. Remember what the legend said? If you use your superpowers for fun then you're toast."

"Pretty sure it sounded better in the book," Baekhyun commented then, and quickly grabbed Kyungsoo to use him as a shield when Seungsoo leaned forward to pinch him in his side. They ended up in a messy tangle of limbs on the sand after that – Kyungsoo's cheek pressed to Baekhyun's chest, Baekhyun's warm thumbs rubbing along the expanse of flesh just under Kyungsoo's shirt, above the waistband of Kyungsoo's shorts.

"We need to find a glass – or a mirror, whatever – to... calm the forces of nature down. A… Reveal Glass?" Kyungsoo suggests. He drops the hand he's just raised, then curls his fingers in a loose fist. "It's part of the legend – _with the magic in the mirror, remind the gods of their true, shapeless form should they ever cause destruction on the land they are to smile down upon._ " He licks his lips, seething when he feels the sharp sting of a wound on his bottom lip. He didn't even realize he'd been worrying his lips for a while already, enough to leave a dull ache in his mouth. When he looks up from staring at Professor Kwon's side of the screen, he finds Baekhyun touching his lips, the same way that he'd touched them just before he ran away years ago and left–

"And where can we find that?" Baekhyun asks. He gives his lips one last lick, then presses them together before adding, "There's nothing in the legend about the Reveal Glass. Or whatever it's called. I'm sure it has a cooler name."

"That as 'cool' as it gets, I'm afraid," Professor Kwon says, shoulders shaking as she laughs a little. She lets out a loud exhale. "I'll have to read through the book again, more carefully this time. Maybe there are clues there that can help us trace the location of the Glass. But I _do_ recall the legend mention something like a Reveal Glass, yes. Might be the best name to call it at the moment."

"If it still exists," Nurse Jinri comments. "If it's not yet broken. It might have been... damaged by the war or something. We need to find the guardian of the Glass. If it has been named in the legend then it's probably being guarded by a person or a group of people."

"Team Rocket?" Soojung suggests. She laughs, snorts, _scoffs_ at the same time that Professor Kwon rolls her eyes. "It sounds ridiculous for them to possibly be guarding the Glass but who knows? It's a pretty solid plan – awaken the legendary gods and cause destruction in the whole country, then tame– No, _control_ them using the Reveal Glass. The nature gods will be under their command; the Pokemon don't have a choice but to obey them."

"The question is, where _are_ they now?" Nurse Jinri muses. She lets out a low hum, set to the rhythm of Professor Kwon bobbing her head. It's almost as if they're dancing, but there's no time to be dancing around. There are Pokemon to be tamed, people to be recused. They've got a world to save. "Another crazy idea but they might be taking shelter in their old hideout? Just a thought. The best way to hide something is in–"

"Plain sight," Kyungsoo mutters. He shakes his head, laughing a little. It comes out so faint that he can hardly hear himself, but he _can_ feel the vibrations in his throat. It can't be this easy to figure out, and if it truly is then there must be something else to it. There might be something they're missing, overlooking, something they've been ignoring for the longest time that might be the answer to all their questions, the key to finding the Reveal Glass. But _what,_ he asks himself. _Think, Kyungsoo. Think!_ The veins in his temples throb, pounding against his skin. He looks up from where he's been doodling figures on his thigh, then meets Professor Kwon's gaze. "Remember how half of Sobaeksan went down during the war? Groudon flattened the mountain in an attempt to kill all the plant life in the area and sort of cripple Kyogre since, well, where else will Kyogre summon more power but through the stored water in plants." He pauses, worrying his bottom lip and forgetting he'd scarred it earlier. He seethes but tries to continue, "That's also where the last leg of the war happened – lower Sobaeksan, which Groudon basically pounded into little rocks but _eh._ Incidentally, where they saw those leaders last before Arceus had them banished into the Distortion World with Giratina."

Baekhyun leans forward and moves to the side just a little, making space for the Daejeon-si's Officer Victoria. "Officer was listening the whole time. She's the one who's been feeding information to the media about the explosion, too. She says the entrance of the mountain got blocked and the steps going up were flattened." He chuckles. "Sound familiar?"

Kyungsoo snorts. "Very," he mutters, then turns to look at Professor Kwon. "Professor, we might want to split up and check the places where the disasters happened. I can head back to Jeonju-si to check the desert. Maybe Baekhyun can check the mountains near Daejeon, the one that collapsed, with Officer Victoria. Then Krystal can–"

" _We_ will handle the investigation. You three are already badly injured, as it is, as are your Pokemon." Professor Kwon cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo when he parts his lips to speak, then curls her lips up unto a tight smile as she ends. "Feed your Pokemon properly. _Train._ Get your second badge. Since we already know what we're dealing with and we know that the earthquake quelled the fight between Thundurus and Tornadus then there's a very slim chance that any of the forces of nature will make themselves felt in the next twelve hours. You've seen the pattern – they only strike once a day. Even gods have to recharge."

Beside him, he hears Soojung laugh a little. It sounds more like a snort than anything else, but the quick shake of her body can only spell laughter. It's warranted, though – only humans love pushing themselves to the limit. Only humans would ever take pleasure in driving themselves crazy. And only the three of them would think of heading out there in their still injured state to try to help put together the pieces of a puzzle. "Travel to Tokkon-ni by train takes around two hours and the ferry from there to the Tokchok Islands should take another two, three hours," Soojung says after a while. She pushes herself off the seat, then bends her knees a few times as if trying to ease her muscles back into action. "Anything can happen in between."

Professor Kwon purses her lips, then nods. "Unless you fly to Tokkon-ni then cross the waters to get to Tokchok. I'm sure Nurse Jinri can help you out; every center has a move simulation program to teach Pokemon new moves in thirty, forty-five minutes, at most." She winks at the camera – or the three of them, Kyungsoo can't tell at the moment. The scar near his left eye still stings. He might have just been imagining things all along and the professor might not have worn any expression on her face, after all, conserving her reaction for something more daunting. They're just making travel plans. Shouldn’t be a big deal. "Flying and surfing to the location, combined, won't even take more than forty-five minutes. I'm authorizing you to use the necessary moves even without earning enough badges yet. This is an emergency, after all."

"I'll... come back in a few hours. I just have to train my Pokemon first," Soojung says, walking to the door and looking over her shoulder. "Pretty sure it'll be hard for a Zubat and a Magikarp to carry me to wherever I have to go if I am to teach them those tech moves. I just have to try to make them evolve first to make things easier for them."

Baekhyun cackles. "You have a _Magikarp?_ "

"Hey," Kyungsoo and Soojung retort at the same time, shooting a sharp look at Baekhyun. "Magikarp grows into a Gyarados, eventually. Give it a chance."

Without another word, Soojung bows to the rest of the team then exits the room. Baekhyun remains on the call a few more minutes, clutching two Pokeballs in his hand and drumming his fingers with the other. There's no fear, no worry written in his features, but his eyebrows _are_ only a few centimeters apart, furrowed a little but only just. And there's still the ghost of a smile on his lips. Maybe he wants to excuse himself, as well, follow Soojung's footsteps and try to train his Pokemon even more in the hope of making flying across cities easier for his Taillow. Maybe he just isn't in the mood to get up yet. Maybe he's trying to _do something_ with the way he hasn't shifted his gaze from Kyungsoo just yet, with the way he drops his gaze from Kyungsoo's eyes to the bridge of his nose, and then further south until it settles on the gentle swell of Kyungsoo's top lip.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, tries to refocus. He's supposed to be listening to the call, hoping Professor Kwon will drop a few more details about whatever she remembers from the legend. Or maybe he should be heading out, easing his Wingull into the concept of flying _and_ sailing part of the Yellow Sea just to get to the Tokchok Islands. Maybe he should stop staring back at Baekhyun and wishing he could run his thumb along that nasty cut on Baekhyun's cheek, the wound that's glowing the brightest shade of red on Baekhyun’s skin.

He's just glad Baekhyun's still around to help them on their mission. He's relieved that his friend is safe, albeit peppered with bruises and wounds. And friends are supposed to be looking after each other, right? If Baekhyun can magically appear at the best possible time to help Kyungsoo get inside a Pokemon Center after being attacked by a legendary Pokemon then he, in turn, must be able to assist Baekhyun to the best of his abilities, as well.

He shifts his gaze to the news on television, then gulps hard. He can't even make out the form of the mountain anymore. If Baekhyun wasn't able to get out of the mountain at the very last minute, _if Ralts wasn't able to transport Kyungsoo to safety–_

"You alright?" comes a faint voice from not too far away. Nurse Jinri and Professor Kwon are still thinking. Baekhyun's tilting his head to the side and his eyes are drooping just a little. He looks as if he's minutes away from passing out in his seat and on Officer Victoria's shoulder. Not the best idea. Still, he continues, "You're doing that spacey thing again. The thing with your eyes–"

"I'm good," Kyungsoo mutters. Doesn't say, I could be better but you're there and I'm here and not being able to check your scars is causing me more harm than anything else. It sounds ridiculous coming from him. And it would sound ridiculous coming from Baekhyun, as well. In an attempt to keep himself from saying more, he stands from his seat and bows to the rest of the team, meeting Baekhyun's gaze before muttering, "I'll be training my Pokemon in the routes. I'll be back in an hour."

"Don't run off!" Baekhyun calls out after him. He laughs to himself. He can't even walk properly; how the hell is he supposed to run with legs still littered with wounds and cuts? "Stay safe!"

He stops in his tracks for a split second, then resumes in his steps. He waves a hand over his shoulder, hoping Baekhyun will see it, and takes short, quick breaths until the lurching sensation in his stomach eases.

The nurse-in-training is still the one serving trainers when he returns from his training. Wingull's feeling better, for the most part, and is more confident flying greater heights. At one point, its body glowed with the brightest light and Kyungsoo thought, maybe I should delay the trip for a bit, try to help Wingull evolve into a Pelipper. But it's been two hours since he's left, three since the last disaster took place. He only has nine more hours to spend flying across cities and hopefully find the islands he's supposed to get his second badge from. He doesn't have the luxury of time to play around with his Pokemon and to just have a good time. Besides, Wingull probably won't drop him anymore. If it can carry Trapinch on its back and fly it around Iksan-si despite Trapinch knocking its head into Wingull's own then Wingull should be able to transport Kyungsoo to places with relative ease.

He keeps Kirlia on standby, nonetheless, instructs it to cling around his neck and _make us lighter, so Wingull won't panic when it feels that it's lugging us around in the air_. After the quick move tutoring, they finally set off, Kyungsoo holding onto Wingull's body, eyes closed as his Pokemon lifts him off the ground. He takes a deep breath as he feels the cool air wrap around his legs, as he feels the wind tousle his hair.

As he feels a light shiver crawl up his spine when Kirlia balances them in mid air, using its psychic powers to help Wingull stay on course and to keep them from falling to the ground.

As he sees the faint image of Hanbit Tower in the distance, setting Daejeon-si apart from the sea of lights below. As he inches farther away from Baekhyun is and closer to his next destination, the next part of the mission.

→

The ferry to Tokchok Islands arrives at eight in the evening. "The waves are pretty tame tonight. Was afraid we'd have to cancel trips, but _eh,_ " says Captain Kangin as he welcomes the passengers aboard. Kyungsoo gives him a curt bow then escorts his Pokemon inside, searching for their cabin. He booked the smallest one earlier, the one closest to the stairs leading to the top deck, as soon as he arrived at Tokkon-ni. He would've asked Wingull to get them to the islands, but Wingull was already coughing halfway through the aerial trip. That, and the darkness of the night was just too thick that it was almost impossible to see anything even with Kirlia's light illuminating the path they were taking earlier. There was too much at risk and too little to gain.

"First time riding a ferry, kid?" Captain Kangin asks. His sailor cap is tipped to the side and the knot of his tie is loose. Give it a break, Kyungsoo tells himself. He's just tired, radioactive. He's a ticking time bomb right now, ready to explode at the slightest jerk of the hand. And his lips are pulled up into a toothy, goofy smile. "Or you're just a bit lost?"

"Just lost," he mumbles, then shows his ticket to the captain. Cracks his neck, as well, in an attempt to ease the tension in his nerves. "I booked that cabin over there but the guy who bumped into me earlier said he'd already paid for it before I did?"

"Oh. Well, that sucks," Captain Kangin says. He shrugs. "I have a tent I can lend you that you can sleep in for the night, if you don't mind? It's pretty cozy, too."

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, tries hard not to cock an eyebrow at the captain. He's expecting a better response, a better way of handling the situation. It's normal to offer another place to stay in that isn't a plastic tent, right? It's normal to expect his money's worth? Still, he doesn't lash out, doesn't sneer at the captain. He might get thrown out of the ferry even before it sets sail if he does. He doesn't have the luxury of time to fight with people right now. He can't take risks. So instead, he asks, "Is there any other cabin I can stay at for the night?"

"You can sleep with me," comes a familiar voice from not too far away. Heavy footsteps, each two seconds apart, calculated, and then, " _If_ you don't mind, at least. I mean, I'm cool with sharing a bed with you but captain–" But circumstance, _please,_ stop playing with me, Kyungsoo's tempted to say. He can't. His throat feels so tight and dry and his words are piling up, choking him, not letting him breathe. There's no good reason for his body to be revolting against him; this is just Baekhyun popping out of nowhere. They are two trainers headed to the Tokchok Islands to earn their second badge. This is _normal._ Still, the lurching sensation at the pit of his stomach doesn't dissolve, settles inside him like it's meant to be there.

Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder and finds a familiar gaze, soft and warm, and then an unfamiliar slash along the cheek. Battle scars, whispers a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's head. It sounds a lot like his own, when he was much younger and his voice still cracked at the most inopportune times. He takes a deep breath. Baekhyun pauses in his steps, just a few feet away from Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo's fingers tremble. "You'll have to pay him back the full fee he paid for earlier. One of your men sold him the cabin and he gave you his money. I think it's only right that he gets his money back after the, uh, unfortunate incident."

Kyungsoo curls in his fingers in a tight, tight fist, and bites the inside of his cheek. He doesn't speak yet, simply addreses Baekhyun with a curt nod and a small smile. It's the least he can offer in gratitude for Baekhyun coming to his defense. The best he could do? Accept the offer, flash Baekhyun a shit-eating yet uncharacteristic grin. Baekhyun would love that. "I still have the receipt with me. I'll be filing the request tomorrow, first thing in the morning," Kyungsoo tells Captain Kangin when he feels his throat again. To Baekhyun, he says, "I'll just pay half of the fee for your cabin. Just a small token of gratitude. The trip's subsidized by the research institute, after all."

"Nah, it's alright. Just join me for breakfast tomorrow," Baekhyun singsongs. He looks to his side, at the captain, then says, "So, captain, tomorrow?"

Funny you should make mentions of 'tomorrow', Kyungsoo muses. It's Baekhyun who always slips out of the room as soon as the sun rises, after all. Or as soon at the thick darkness of the night has settled, even, because he knows very well that Kyungsoo has the shittiest eyesight past nine in the evening. And he's too lazy to move around, to slip out of his comfortable position just to reach out and pull Baekhyun back to bed. He's _tired._ He says none of these, though, just keeps his eyes fixed on the captain until the captain meets his gaze and acknowledges his end of the deal with a nod of the head.

"Yes, tomorrow," says Captain Kangin, then cocks his head to the side. "I apologize for the ruckus. Please allow me to escort you to your cabin. It would be my pleasure to do so."

Kyungsoo snorts, hauls his bag over his shoulders and adjusts the straps. Baekhyun grabs him by the wrist and pulls him closer, but doesn't quite slide his hand down to slip his fingers between Kyungsoo's own. Instead, he just looks at Kyungsoo with that bright, peculiar glint in his eyes, mischief written on the curl of his lip and the way his eyes crinkle at the corner.

Kyungsoo pulls away after a while, recalling his Pokeball and clipping the capsules to his belt. When he looks up again, he finds Baekhyun still waiting, heavy gaze fixed on him and no one else.

Baekhyun's cabin is at the far end of the ship. The walk isn't long – just five minutes since they're crossing distances with big steps – and the pathway is by no means narrow, but Baekhyun's knuckles keep brushing against his. Each contact send a sliver of electricity shooting up his arms, wrapping around his elbows and his neck and making him shiver. Every packet of sound – a hum, a chuckle when Captain Kangin says he wouldn't dare cross Kyungsoo because _just look at him_ , bright laughter when Kyungsoo lets out a low _hey_ and kicks the side of Baekhyun's leg. "And you finally look me in the eye," Baekhyun says when Kyungsoo curls his fingers in Baekhyun's shirt, when Kyungsoo gives the material a light tug just enough to make the rest of Baekhyun's laughter tumble out of his mouth and onto the ground. "For a minute, I thought you were going to sleep in a tent instead of sharing a bed with me. You're ridiculous."

" _You're_ ridiculous," Kyungsoo retorts without another thought. He bites the inside of his cheek when he realizes how stupid, how _childish_ it sounds. "We're on a mission, Baekhyun."

"Doesn't mean we can't share a bed," Baekhyun answers. He guides Kyungsoo inside, then tells Captain Kangin, "Breakfast is free because of this guy, right?"

From where Kyungsoo is, he hears Captain Kangin heave a sigh and say, "Yes, yes. Whatever makes the little guy happy." He contemplates fighting back, asking, _who are you calling 'little guy'?_ He's just tired. Everything sets off his nerves and gets to him faster than it should. He just needs to sleep. So he rolls his eyes, breathes out when he sees the big bed at the center of the root, just feet away.

Part of him feels thankful, relieved. The other half, oddly bereft.

The door snaps shut behind them. Baekhyun drops his hands from where they were fastened to Kyungsoo's shoulders, sliding them down until he can settle them on the jut of Kyungsoo's hips. "So, it's just you and me now," he whispers right in Kyungsoo's ear, as if someone else might be listening, as if someone's watching them. No one is. There's nothing here but the dim room lights to bear witness to all the tricks Baekhyun's about to pull from his sleeve. Nothing but the silence of the room wrapping around them to whisper the things they have to remember in their ears – you're on a mission, you're right in the middle of saving the world from another war, _don't give in._ Still, Kyungsoo doesn't shake Baekhyun off, doesn't pull away. He doesn't move. He waits until Baekhyun drops his hands to his sides, sick of the standstill.

"You might want to let me through," Baekhyun mumbles. He still has his lips, rough and wet, pressed to the back of Kyungsoo's ear. It makes Kyungsoo shiver. "I mean, this _is_ my room, after all."

Kyungsoo takes in a sharp breath, inhaling noisily through his nose, and snaps up straight. "Right," he mumbles, walking close to the bed and standing just beside a corner of it. He doesn't drop his bag to the floor yet, doesn't make a home out of Baekhyun's room. He's just a tenant here, sort of. A beneficiary of Baekhyun's goodness, if that even makes sense. He keeps his eyes locked with Baekhyun's in a steady gaze, convincing himself again and again to not guide his gaze elsewhere. "Sorry. I'm... pretty out of it."

"It's fine. You're just tired," Baekhyun says. He saunters forward and drops his things to the floor, then allows himself to fall flat on his back on the bed. The cushion sinks all around him and the comforter frames him, sort of softens the hard angles of his features. His cheeks are pink; his lips, the most interesting shade of red. Kyungsoo digs his nails in his skin, hoping to jostle himself out of his trance. When he feels the pulse in his soles again, he breathes out a little. But when Baekhyun pats the empty space beside him, looks up as says, "C'mere. Rest. Stop thinking. You're doing your mental gymnastics again. Just watching you breathe wears me out."

"You don't have to, you know," Kyungsoo mumbles. He tears his gaze from Baekhyun's own. Or he tries to, at least, because now Baekhyun's got himself propped against one arm, reaching out with the other to curl his fingers around Kyungsoo's wrist. Baekhyun tugs him close, closer. Guides him down until they're face to face, lying on their sides. "You really didn't have to."

"Then what, I'll bear the guilt of knowing you're sleeping outside then see you the following day looking like a poor little kid? Nu-uh." Baekhyun shakes his head, cackles. He tilts his head to the side, burying his face in the comforter. Yeah, do that, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. Hide your face forever. You're good at running away and not keeping in touch, after all. "Besides, I really want to spend some time with my favorite. We're stuck in the middle of the sea for the next few hours. We have no choice but to stick with each other and talk."

"Talk?" Kyungsoo laughs a little. "You really want to talk?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Baekhyun sucks in his bottom lip, walks his fingers over to where Kyungsoo is and flicks a stray strand of hair away from Kyungsoo's face. "You need to get a hair cut. Your hair's too long already."

You need to back the fuck off, Kyungsoo wants to say, but at the same time he wants to wrap his fingers around Baekhyun's wrist, wants to trap Baekhyun here and ask him– Ask him what? Why he did what he did before? Why he ran away? It's been years; whatever Baekhyun has to say won't make a difference anymore. It will clear some things up, sure, but that damage has already been done. There are years of space between them that even this – Baekhyun tracing the curve of Kyungsoo's face with a finger, Baekhyun licking his lips as he sinks his eyes to the level of Kyungsoo's lips, Baekhyun's chest heaving as he inches closer, as his eyelashes flutter–

"What are you doing?" Kyungsoo asks, _whispers._ The thumping in his chest grows louder, stronger, _wilder._ He can't even hear himself anymore. "What are you–"

Baekhyun moves even closer, stopping only when their foreheads touch. He places a finger on Kyungsoo's lips, tells him, "Ssh. Don't– Don't ruin it. Don't say a thing. Just–" but doesn't drop his hand to his side. He closes his eyes. Kyungsoo feels the tips of his fingers grow cold. He wonders, just wonders, how it would feel if he yanked Baekhyun's hand away, if he leaned in close enough that their lips touched. If he'd feel warmer that way, or if he could just bury his face in the crook of Baekhyun's neck and feel just as warm. He's not the type to seek warmth all the time, to cling to a beacon of light at the first spark, but when you're traveling alone and you _know_ the fate of the country – heck, maybe even the world – rests in your hands, you hold onto the first string tying you back to the place you call 'home'. You hold onto it tight even if it scars your hands, even if it hurts, and tug at it, hoping that there's someone at the other end who is going through just as much. And you keep the broken strings in your pocket in a neat coil, a reminder that you're not alone. There's someone on the other side ready to help you, to hold your hand. That in every city he goes to, every route he braves, he'll find Baekhyun waiting for him with a cocky, challenging grin, the words for 'I believe in you' scribbled beneath his snide remarks.

"Why?" Kyungsoo says, breathes out. For a moment, Baekhyun's eyelashes flutter, then he's shutting his eyes again. The lone finger keeping their lips apart grows cold. Kyungsoo shivers. Baekhyun has never been cold. "Why did you leave? Why did you run away? You said if someone called after you, if someone asked you to stay, you would–"

"I wasn't even ten then," Baekhyun says, laughing a litle. He gulps hard. His breath still feels warm on Kyungsoo's skin, though. "I was a kid. I was _stupid. There,_ was that the answer you wanted to hear? I told you not to ruin it, Soo. It's such a simple request. Do you really have to ruin _everything?_ "

 _Everything?_ Kyungsoo snorts, scoffs, tries hard not to laugh. "Everything, huh," he mumbles, afraid to say anything else. There are so many words knocking at the back of his teeth, clawing at his throat, threatening to spill from his lips – if there's anyone who ruined things then it's Baekhyun, not him. He wasn't the one who pulled Baekhyun too close until their lips touched. He wasn't the one who sucked on Baekhyun's bottom lip and _then_ turned on his heel even before Baekhyun could react. And he wasn't the one who ran away. He's the one who stuck around long enough to watch even Sunyoung sail away from the island, the one who stayed because Baekhyun promised, he _promised_ before he gripped Kyungsoo tight by his wrists that no matter what happens, nothing will change. They'll still be friends. And they'll see each other every Seollal, every Chuseok, on their birthdays. They'll find a way to see each other again somehow.

And then Baekhyun's voice thinned into silence and his chest was heaving and he was pulling Kyungsoo close, crushing their lips together. When Kyungsoo parted his lips – to speak, to kiss back, to _breathe_ – Baekhyun pulled away, eyes wide open and cheeks flushed and his lips too slick, too red. There was a dull ache in his chest where Baekhyun had pushed him away. Baekhyun's hands were shaking. And then he felt a lump of something bump against his side, Baekhyun's warmth leaving him as Baekhyun ran to the bus that was going to take them to the port, out of Sinyuk-ri and Kyungsoo's life.

"Whatever," Kyungsoo says. He rolls to his side, facing the white walls of the room. Behind him, he can still hear Baekhyun's heavy breathing. "Sleep. Get some rest. We have to be early tomorrow for the gym challenge."

"Kyungsoo–"

" _Go to bed,_ " Kyungsoo reiterates through gritted teeth. He bites down hard on his bottom lip when he realizes how stupid that sounded – they _are_ in bed, bodies pushed away by the years they've spent apart. "Tomorrow's a long day–"

"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun says again, firmer this time, and rests a hand on his shoulder. Kyungsoo shuts his eyes. If he lets Baekhyun reel him back in, if he tries to decipher whatever message Baekhyun is trying to tell him through the language of his limbs then he'll just fall back into the trap Baekhyun has dug for him. He can't do that to himself. _He's not coming back,_ he remembers Sunyoung telling him before, repeats in his mind again and again until it's the only sound he can hear above the thumping in his chest. "Kyungsoo, please–"

"Please _what?_ " Kyungsoo snaps, shrugging Baekhyun's hand off as he pulls back his shoulder. He turns around, though, faces Baekhyun again, curls his fingers on Baekhyun's shirt but doesn't pull him close. _Not yet._ "I called after you, Baekhyun. I asked you not to leave. I told you we can go to the same middle school, the same one Seungsoo-hyung and Baekbeom-hyung went to. I told you, I _promised_ you nothing will change _no matter what–_ "

"But–" Baekhyun worries his bottom lip. Licks it, like he's still trying to string his words together in a sentence that says more than just Kyungsoo's name. Silence settles between them, broken only by the faint crackles of the whimper slipping from the corners of Baekhyun's mouth. It makes the hair at Kyungsoo's nape stand, makes his insides turn. Baekhyun parts his lips, trembling. "But I kissed you," he finally says, voice dropping a whisper, an exhale. He gulps hard, Adam's apple bobbing in his neck. "And because you didn't push me away I felt– I– I wanted to kiss you more. And if I did that, I wouldn't be able to leave. I wanted something _more,_ I wanted to... experience new things. I had to. I was stuck in that island for so long, Soo, it was driving me crazy. You have _no idea._ After umma passed away, everything about the island just... made me feel bad."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath. "Sorry," he whispers, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them again only to be met with the faintest smile on Baekhyun's lips. So he reaches up, presses his thumb on one corner of Baekhyun's mouth and pulls it up. "Don't do that. You're ugly when you frown."

Baekhyun chuckles. "So you think I'm cute when I'm _not_ frowning?"

"Don't put words in my mouth," Kyungsoo answers. Doesn't say, there are other things that our mouths can be doing but I _still_ can't understand how the whole thing began. I want to understand. _Make me understand._ "You should've just said so, you know. I could've–" He shakes his head. "Sunyoung and I could have tried to distract you–"

"You're a really good distraction, I can tell you that," Baekhyun says, laughing a little. He wraps his hand around Kyungsoo's own, rubs a stripe of warmth along Kyungsoo's skin with his thumb. He doesn't lean in yet. And Kyungsoo hasn't pulled away. Those two, three inches between them are still there, both keeping them together and pushing them apart. "Too good," he continues, then licks his lips. He drops his eyes to the gentle swell of Kyungsoo's mouth, sucks in his bottom lip. "You made me want to stay."

Then why didn't you, Kyungsoo wants to ask, but he's tired. He's weak. He's a bit too yielding. If he poses the big Why again then Baekhyun will say the same thing, mention kissing and Kyungsoo's thoughts will wrap around that like a quilt. They have a mission to work on. They have to earn their gym badge the first thing in the morning and he _has_ stay focused because if he thinks of Baekhyun's lips then he might want to drop anchor here, right in the middle of the Yellow Sea–

Baekhyun cups his cheeks and the warmth wraps around Kyungsoo's neck, chokes a whimper out of him. Makes his chest heave. If he gives in to the allure of Baekhyun's warmth, if he moves _even closer_ only a breath separates them then _he'll_ ruin everything and they'll be sailing off-course and–

"We have to be up early tomorrow," Kyungsoo whispers. A deep breath, then, "We.. have a mission–"

"Alright," Baekhyun says, nodding. The quickening pulse in his palms drums a beat on Kyungsoo's skin, leaves the rhythm there even as he slides his hands down Kyungsoo's face and traces cold lines along Kyungsoo's cheek. Kyungsoo shakes, shivers. Here it is again, the familiar push and pull of hot and cold inside him, the thickening space between them leaving him wanting– _What?_ Rest, some time alone, silence? Time to think about what has just happened and time to ask himself what he really wants? He can't tell yet. All he knows is that the racing in his chest has become even faster with Baekhyun pulling away, sitting up on the bed, looking the other way. "D'you... want to shower first? I've got to look for a couple of things. Or maybe we can grab dinner at the cafeteria or something _then_ shower, then–"

Kyungsoo's stomach grumbles. He scrunches his nose at the ripping sensation. Baekhyun laughs, bright, _obnoxious._ It sounds like every pop song they sang way, way back, when they were still eight and running without a care in the world on the beach. The music goes on until Baekhyun says, "Up, up! Up with you!" And then Baekhyun is pulling him back to his feet, the weird look on Baekhyun's features – the faint frown pulling down the corners of his mouth, the light furrow of the eyebrows, the gradual fall of his shoulders – lifting and fading into thin air. This is a better look on him, Kyungsoo muses.

He presses his hand to his chest in an attempt to catch his breath. Too late, a voice at the back of his mind says as he watches Baekhyun turn the knob with a slick twist and walk past the doorway with a bounce in his step. It's gone now, and Baekhyun won't ever give it back.

Later, when Baekhyun laces their fingers together on the way to the cafeteria, Kyungsoo doesn't recoil, doesn't pull away. Instead, he stays there, letting Baekhyun swing their intertwined hands back and forth to the steady beat of their pulse against each other. Tomorrow, he can think of the best way to beat the gym leader of Tokchok Islands, but for now he'll succumb to Baekhyun's warmth thawing him out in the cold cafeteria, the sticky slide of their palms, the way their bodies align.

→

Kyungsoo wakes up to the sound of his alarm and a prickling heat pressed to his face. He scrunches his nose – _his face_ – and sniffles when he inhales the scent of... kiwi? And the faint scent of strawberries, but that's his shampoo. Or Baekhyun's – he can't remember much anymore. All he knows is that they stumbled back into the room at half past midnight, too sleepy to function, and Baekhyun pushed him inside the bathroom. He threw one towel and luckily hit Baekhyun in the face. Baekhyun fell back to the carpet in a heap of laughter, hooked his ankle on Kyungsoo's own and pulled Kyungsoo down on top of him.

"We're in this together," Kyungsoo recalls Baekhyun saying, voice barely above a whisper. Kyungsoo remembers, too, inching away when logic started to catch up with him. He recalls the spark of surprise in Baekhyun's features when Kyungsoo tilted his face up, lips brushing against Baekhyun's forehead. And remembers the faint 'oh' that spilled from Baekhyun's slightly parted lips, the blush of pink on his cheeks, the way he pushed himself off the carpet like he wanted to run after Kyungsoo when Kyungsoo had already retreated to the bathroom.

He feels two loud thumps at the base of his throat, then in his chest. He snorts. When he realizes his vision hasn't caught up yet, he blinks a few times and rubs his eyes a little, knuckles brushing against the thick white material that was shielding his eyes earlier.

A faint murmur, then he looks up at look for the source of the voice. "Oh, hey," is Baekhyun's greeting, coupled with the softest, goofiest smile. There's saliva at the corners of his mouth and he _stinks,_ but somehow the dim lighting in the room lifts all of that, softens his many imperfections and– "Thought I'd wake up with you gone," Baekhyun continues, snorting, and lets out a loud, loud yawn. "'Guess not–"

I have trouble moving on, Kyungsoo wants to say, but it's too early to even be thinking of things like this. They were supposed to get to the islands hours ago, even before the sun rose, but had to make a stopover at a nearby island to wait for the strong winds and waves to calm down. Kyungsoo wasn't supposed to stay in Baekhyun's cabin if not for an unfortunate event. Baekhyun isn't supposed to still be here. In all the nights they've spent together after finding each other again in Mokpo-si, Baekhyun has always fled before the sun rose so it's only normal, isn't it, for Kyungsoo to not expect to wake up cocooned in Baekhyun's warm embrace? It’s only normal for him to think that way, right? It's only normal for him to be shocked, to try to see if _this_ is real, reach up to cup Baekhyun's face in his hands and–

Baekhyun chuckles, hums. He leans into Kyungsoo's light touch, doesn't shy away when Kyungsoo begins to trace weird, sloppy drawings on Baekhyun's skin with his thumbs. Baekhyun's muscles are shaking, though, like he's trying to contain all the emotions that his features want to express – surprise, shock, excitement. Fear and doubt. _Hope._ Kyungsoo pulls at Baekhyun's cheeks, then, tugging hard until he feels the resistance, until Baekhyun starts kicking his kegs and groaning, "What the _fuck,_ Kyungsoo–"

Yeah, definitely real, he tells himself, then drops his hands to his sides. Feeling his legs again, he gets up and tries to slip out of that thick cloak of fatigue, tries not to look at Baekhyun's figure – propped against his elbows, hair tousled, the smile on his lips more sweet than sloppy, eyes fixed on nothing, no one else but Kyungsoo – on the bed. "You have a _very_ weird way of showing affection, geez," Baekhyun counters after a while, then chucks a throw pillow at him. Lethargy keeps his body from reacting quickly, just makes him shift in his position so he can see Baekhyun better and take that white, fluffy pillow to his face. And then Baekhyun's laughing, the same bright laughter that Kyungsoo last heard when they were still ten, back in Sinyuk-ri where the only thing they had to worry about was picking berries from the bushes and trees, if the water from the ocean was too cold. If Sunyoung would beat them to getting to the seafood market and hoard the grilled squid, and then not share with them.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself. Things were so much easier back then, ten years ago when they were aspiring to be great Pokemon trainers, not caped crusaders. If they were given the same task years ago then they'd probably be excited about it, enthusiastic, trying to 'take down the bad guys' with their faithful companions.

But then, the war sparked and Team Rocket spread disaster all over the land, put their selfish desires before the welfare of the country. And now, here he and Baekhyun are – thirty minutes and a breakfast meal away from the Tokchok Islands, from their second badge and maybe a clue on the location of the Reveal Glass. Thirty minutes away from having to split again and go their separate ways. _Only thirty minutes left_ until they have to slip back into their old lives – two trainers sent on a mission to catch 'em all and, well, save the world.

"Aaand you're weird. I have _no idea_ why I like you," Baekhyun grumbles, then pushes himself off the bed. One side of his shirt falls off his broad shoulders, exposing more skin, and Kyungsoo gulps hard. He curls his fingers in a tight fist in his pockets, trying to bring back the feeling in his fingers, his limbs, to still the thundering pulse at the back of his knees. He doesn't move, not even when Baekhyun saunters over, hips swaying from side to side as he inches closer to where Kyungsoo is and runs his fingers through Kyungsoo's hair. "Breakfast?" he asks, humming, like hadn't just woken up, like he hadn't wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo last night and mumbled in his sleepiest voice, "Will you stop thinking too much, for fuck's sake– If you don't shut up, I'm gonna k–"

"That's not a good joke," Kyungsoo said.

"It isn't," Baekhyun replied. Kyungsoo swallowed hard, hoped Baekhyun wouldn't feel the thumping in his chest despite the tight fit of their bodies. It was impossible; they were skin on skin. If Baekhyun wouldn't feel it in Kyungsoo's chest then he'd feel it in Kyungsoo's pulse at the back of his ear where Baekhyun had his lips pressed to. "So rest. Sleep. Or else I'll–" Baekhyun's breath hitched for a quick second. Kyungsoo shivered. A loud gulp, then Baekhyun continued, "Tickle you or something–"

"It's _just breakfast,_ " Baekhyun says now, slurring his words like he's still toeing the line between awake and half-asleep. He hooks his arm around Kyungsoo's own when Kyungsoo doesn't respond, dragging Kyungsoo out of the room in his freshly woken up state. "Come on, we can't waste time. We have to be responsible adults once we get to the island."

Good that you know what you're supposed to be doing, Kyungsoo wants to say. He doesn't. Instead, he bites the inside of his cheek and tries to catch up, quickening his pace so he can match Baekhyun's strides.

Thirty minutes dissolve into a traditional Korean breakfast that Kyungsoo hasn't had for days, ever since he left Mokpo-si to start his journey. Baekhyun comes up with all sorts of conversation topics – the weather, the waves, the weird Luvdisc he'd seen earlier, on their way to the cafeteria. The way only half of Kyungsoo's hair stands up. The way Kyungsoo quirks his lips when Baekhyun knows – " _Assumes,_ " Kyungsoo interrupts, seething – Kyungsoo's trying to find the right words for whatever he has to say.

The fact that the next time they'll see each other is either in the skies, flying alongside each other, or back here in the ferry but in different cabins. Or maybe when disaster strikes again because it seems to love following them around like bees to honey.

"I mean, who knows," Baekhyun says as he leans against the counter while Kyungsoo collects the reimbursed fee for the wrong cabin booking. Kyungsoo looks up, meeting him in the eye for the quickest second, then gets back to counting his change. He separates a couple of bills as Baekhyun goes on to talk about the three legendary genies possibly ganging up on them and snatching their Pokemon away; worse, beating them up until their Pokemon look like pathetic fighters on the ground. "I won't be surprised if they find us here and suddenly start summoning tsunami's _though_ I hope that won't happen–"

"Payment. For letting me stay in your cabin," Kyungsoo mutters, shoving the folded bills in Baekhyun's chest. When Baekhyun doesn't say anything, he balls his hand into a loose fist and twists it in Baekhyun's shirt, grinding his knuckles against the cloth. Baekhyun doesn't jump back, doesn't push him away, but he does wince even when Kyungsoo mumbles an apology. "Come on, accept it. It's the least I could do after you let me sleep–"

"–in my bed, yeah," Baekhyun says, nodding and smiling. He looks silly with that expression plastered on his face. Like he's just won the lottery even if he's shit at luck-based games. "Nah, just keep it. That way, I can sleep in your bed next time if I do end up without a cabin or anywhere to go. Besides, we're friends!" He snorts and shakes his head at Kyungsoo. "And friends do this, right?"

Kyungsoo drops his gaze from Baekhyun's eyes to Baekhyun guiding his foot up to score a line along Kyungsoo's leg. "Yeah, of course," he mumbles for lack of anything better to say, and leans close. Close enough that he can get a whiff of the scent of strawberry – _his_ shampoo, not Baekhyun's – in Baekhyun's hair, close enough that he can count the pimples on Baekhyun's cheeks if he wanted to. There are three on the right cheek, one on the left. And Baekhyun has a mole north of his upper lip, a tiny speck of black that adds character to his features, makes the way his lips curl at the corners when he smiles even more alluring.

Friends, he reminds himself. Friends get too close and unnecessarily chummy at times. It's not the first time someone has stuck with him far longer than the usual – that's probably Sunyoung who loves giving everyone hugs. It isn't the first time someone tried to kiss him – that would be the Jigglypuff they encountered in the wild just a few days ago; the Pokemon lunged forward, attacking Kyungsoo with a Draining Kiss instead of hitting one of his Pokemon with the attack. "Yeah, friends– This is normal," he says, _tries to say_ through the thick lump lodged in his throat. Sort of like the immovable force that Baekhyun is. He rests a hand on Baekhyun's waist, then, and stuffs the money inside Baekhyun's pocket without preamble. " _Of course._ "

"What the–" Baekhyun's lips hang parted even as he points an accusing finger at Kyungsoo, as he purses his lips then says, "You sneaky bastard–"

Kyungsoo pulls away with an easy smile and a bounce in his step. He draws his hand close to his chest and thinks, he's pretty sure he felt something scratch his skin, something akin to half a Pokeball. He can't be mistaken.

→

The walk from the port to the 'city area' of the islands takes close to an hour. Kyungsoo looks around, taking in the sight of mountains and the vast fields of green all around him as they journey to the Pokemon Center. There aren't too many Pokemon here, but he does find a couple of peculiar ones that he hasn't seen in the cities he's been to or the routes he's crossed – a Pinsir helping out one of the farmers, and a Heracross carrying a little girl out of the fields to somewhere safe. Some Tropius flying around, waiting for the right time to strike. And something that keeps changing its coat, as well, a strange-looking Pokemon that the Pokedex can't seem to pick up what with it fleeing from one place to another too quickly.

"Holy sh–" Baekhyun curls in on himself as he trips on an invisible lump and lands on the ground. They're on dry land now, meters away from the damp area where Kyungsoo saw the Tympoles, but some mud still sticks to Baekhyun's skin, his face, his hair. And they're… moving, the lumps of mud. Kyungsoo blinks a few times, trying to convince himself that he hadn't seen moving inanimate objects earlier. _Impossible._

"What the– There wasn't anything on the ground, I _swear_ to god–" Baekhyun pushes himself off the ground, trying to get back up, but an invisible force presses down on him. "What the hell!"

Kyungsoo leans back a little and squints. The moving lumps of mud are hovering Baekhyun now, and there are soft depressions on Baekhyun's clothes. Sort of like someone's stepping on him and that someone has tiny feet. A baby, maybe? Or an invisible Pokemon? _Right,_ Kyungsoo mutters at the back of his mind, then feels around for Kirlia's Pokeball. Kirlia should be able to identify whatever this Pokemon might be, if it _is_ one. It can't be anything else.

"Kirlia, use Psyshock!" he calls out at the same time that Kirlia comes bursting from its capsule. Kirlia looks to the side for a moment, then fixes its eyes on Baekhyun's figure on the ground. It extends its arms in Baekhyun's direction, then, and the lump of mud starts moving again. Faster, this time, as if it has detected the presence of another Pokemon that might harm it and it's running away in an effort to stay out of danger–

But too late, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. Psyshock hits the moving lump of mud, purple pebbles hitting the invisible mass and slowly revealing its target. Only blotches of color appear at first – big, empty eyes, yellow... hair? Green skin. A tail wound in a tight spiral, and more patches of yellow on its body. The pebbles fall to the ground and then fade into dust, and the eerie light that was once covering the Pokemon lifts.

And then its bright green skin turns into a darker, duller shade at the same time that the maniacal grin on the Pokemon's lips pulls down into a frown. Kirlia approaches the Pokemon with slow, careful steps, but keeps its hands facing the Pokemon's direction.

Kyungsoo whips out his Pokedex from his back pocket and flips it open. "Kecleon, the Color Swap Pokemon," comes the Dex's robotic voice. "It changes the color of its body to match its surroundings and to hide from predators. When it is sad or feeling down, it also changes its color." Kyungsoo lifts his gaze, then, fixing it on Kecleon that won't stop changing the color of its coat. Maybe it's shocked, _scared._ Or maybe it's angry that they disrupted its playtime; it looked like it was having such a grand time messing with Baekhyun's balance, after all.

Kyungsoo approaches Kecleon and bends his knees, crouching until he's at eye-level with it. It _does_ look a bit put-off, the frown on its lips tilted to the side as if in disappointment. Kyungsoo reaches out with one hand, just letting it hover until Kecleon looks up _and then_ looks at him in the eye. "I won't catch you if you don't want to, but you'll have to let us through," he whispers to the Pokemon. He hasn't put his down yet; Kecleon hasn't inched away, either. He looks around him for a second, meeting the eyes of guide Professor Kwon sent to meet up with them – Nam Woohyun, if Kyungsoo remembers correctly – and nods. Everything's alright, he means to say; alternatively, this Kecleon just wants to have fun and we might want to bring him back to the Center for the professor to meet it. "We're really sorry that we had to... get in the way of your playing–"

Kecleon snarls. Scratches at his outstretched hand, as well, in response and in retaliation. Kyungsoo stays still despite the sting of the cuts on his palm, but he presses on. One way to tame Pokemon is by letting them know that you won't harm them even if they try to harm you. One way to earn their trust is by making them feel that you're here to help them, not to control them. "–but it was rude to trip him like that. You shouldn't be doing that to people, alright? Not even to your fellow Pokemon."

Over his shoulder, he hears Baekhyun snorting. He holds up his middle finger in his other hand in response. "Now, will you let us through?" Kyungsoo tries this time, eyes still fixed on the Pokemon in front of him. Back in the day, before the war, he'd be able to coax Pokemon out of hiding or ease them into a more comfortable state, but things are different now. The war has scarred both humans and Pokemon. It has become increasingly difficult to trust, much more to allow oneself a moment of weakness. It's too risky to give in. Still, he presses on, bringing his hand closer to Kecleon until his palm is touching its sharp hair. He refocuses his eyes on the Pokemon. Another trick he's learned back in trainer school and with years of practice – maintain eye contact even if the Pokemon already looks like its thinking of ways how to attack your face. "Please?"

Kecleon inches away, then crosses its arms over its chest. It takes a step to the side and, with a loud cry, cocks its head to the direction of the road ahead.

"Pokemon whisperer," Baekhyun whispers. Kyungsoo kicks his leg back, not knowing what it will hit, but whatever – he knows very well that Baekhyun's just three, four inches away, or maybe even closer with the way Baekhyun's breath fans across his nape. Baekhyun’s almost always close, breaching private space like it’s made to be worn down so easily. "Never knew you had it in you."

"Shut up. I've always been good at taming Pokemon," Kyungsoo mumbles. When he catches Baekhyun chuckling, he digs his elbow in Baekhyun's side and twists it there, until he hears Baekhyun squirm. " _Take it back–_ "

"Yeah, yeah, you're the best tamer! The best there ever was!" Baekhyun's lips fall open into a big, bright smile, and then his shoulders are shaking, his entire body letting out a lovely peal of laughter as he buries his face in the crook of Kyungsoo's neck and rests his hands on Kyungsoo's hips.

He's just out of control, a mess, Kyungsoo tells himself. Baekhyun has always been a ticking time bomb and _he_ has always been good at detonating bonds. But with Baekhyun's grip on his waist tight and Baekhyun's warm lips on his skin and the vibrations of Baekhyun's laughter summoning a sizzle of heat rolling down his torso, it has become impossible to move around, much less breathe. Baekhyun sticks to him like glue and holds him tight like Kyungsoo might decide to flee at an moment and leave him a whimpering mess on the ground.

Don't be silly; _I'm_ the one who's been waiting for so long, Kyungsoo wants to say, but he doesn't. What they need to do now is to get moving, to get to the Center, challenge the gym leader. Head back to Tokkon-ni _and then_ attempt to travel to Seoul by foot, if their bodies will still allow. They have a mission to fulfill, things to accomplish. He doesn't have time to enjoy the warm cocoon of Baekhyun's embrace. _They_ don't have time.

Kyungsoo pulls away with a light jerk of the body, whispering in Baekhyun's ear, "Mission." And that's all that Baekhyun has to hear to take a step back, to swallow down the laughter spilling from his lips, to wear the same suit he's been forced to slip into since the day they accepted the mission. The smile on Baekhyun's lips doesn't wane, though, even as they resume in their steps, even as Kecleon walks between them and pushes their brushing knuckles farther away. Even as Kecleon clings to Baekhyun's leg like a vice grip and doesn't let go, as Kecleon taps the Pokeball on Baekhyun's belt and lets out a loud and sharp cry.

Baekhyun looks up, into Kyungsoo's eyes, and whispers, "Looks familiar." Without another word, he unlocks one of his spare Pokeballs in his bag and beams at the bright red light that wraps around the Kecleon and pulls it inside the capsule. "Very familiar."

→

The Pokemon Center at the heart of the islands isn't any different from the ones Kyungsoo has seen down south. It's a bit smaller, that's for sure, but there's still a vast field of berries at the back. The play area for the Pokemon isn't as large as the one in Mokpo-si or Jeonju-si, but that's understandable – there are very few people here in the islands and almost all who come here for a visit leave as soon as they earn the Drizzle badge.

"This really _is_ a vacation spot, especially for the hikers. They love exploring the mountains here," Nurse Jinri says as she guides them to the trainers' quarters. She twists the knob, then swings the door open. "And because of that, we've made sure to beef up the communication lines and internet connection all over the islands. It makes tracking lost hikers much, much easier," she continues. Ushering the two to step inside, she flicks the light switch open to reveal a big room, but there's not a trace of a bed anywhere. There are couches, lots of couches. Screens on the walls like monitoring panels. Beeping sounds, too, like they're at a command station of some operation. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. "Also, it helps us prepare for possible attacks from neighboring countries. I mean, nobody ever launches missiles in our direction anymore, but–"

"The islands are still beautiful, though," Baekhyun comments, then bumps into Kyungsoo when he walks past him. Baekhyun's gaze is shifting from side to side, as if scouting for information from the mostly empty screens. There's nothing projected there yet, save for the monitor at the far left corner of the huge stretch of panels. After a while, Baekhyun looks over his shoulder. "How badly was this place hit, Nurse Jinri? I just... I only saw pictures in the news. Was it really that bad?"

Nurse Jinri stops midway through her sentence, lips hanging parted and trembling a little. "It was awful," she says a few seconds after, when the silence becomes too thick and deafening. Kyungsoo shivers. "This place– They built army bases here before, specifically meant to guard the country from potential attacks from our neighbors." She takes a deep breath, then laughs a little. There's a tiny crack there, somewhere in her voice, somewhere between her words thinning into another bout of silence and the hiccup in her breathing. It makes Kyungsoo curl his toes in, makes his stomach lurch. Makes him dig his nails into his skin until he can feel a dull ache in his knuckles. "Little did we know that we were eventually going to have to protect _us_ from ourselves."

Baekhyun lets out a soft and faint 'oh' under his breath. And then he's nodding, looking to his side, pulling Kyungsoo closer so they can settle on the couch and see what's displayed on the screen better.

"I'll be leading you to your quarters shortly," Nurse Jinri says. She bows to them, then says, "I'm sorry, but the professor really wanted to talk to you first. She's been wondering how you were for the past few hours. She kept calling every thirty minutes–"

"Don't be silly. I called every hour, on the dot," comes Professor Kwon's voice. She pops up on the screen in front of them, hair tied back in a messy bun and eyeglasses slowly slipping off the bridge of her nose. There are dark circles under her eyes and there's a red dot on her cheek, just two inches from where the frame of her glasses sits. She's smiling, though, the tightness at the corners lifting with every passing second. "Glad to see you two again. Krystal checked in with me last night. Flew all the way to the islands because she missed the last ship."

"With her teeny weeny Zubat? _Wow,_ " Baekhyun says, snorting. Kyungsoo hits him with his elbow in his side. Baekhyun seethes in response. "Good call, though. The waves got really scary at one point. We had to stop by an island until the strong winds and waves subsided."

Professor Kwon furrows her eyebrows. Or at least that's how it looks with the choppy reception here in the islands. Kyungsoo leans closer, squinting his eyes as he tries to get a clearer picture of the expression on Professor Kwon's face – pursed lips, knit eyebrows. Cheeks hollowed out a little as if she's biting them inside to keep herself from saying something. "Strong waves, you say?"

Kyungsoo nods. "Might have even been a storm. I heard the thunder at around... midnight, if I remember correctly." He has a very vague recollection of what he'd heard last night that isn't Baekhyun's boisterous laughter of Baekhyun's fitful snores. Or Baekhyun's soft whimpers sending shivers down his spine, prickling his skin where Baekhyun had his lips pressed to the shell of Kyungsoo's ear. Or Baekhyun muttering Kyungsoo's name in his sleep, again and again until each syllable dissolved into a stream of snores. "It didn't rain, though."

Baekhyun leans back a little, studying him from a distance. "You... didn't sleep well last night?" Baekhyun asks as if they're not trying to eliminate the possibility of the gods of nature attacking again. This is _not_ the right time, he wants to tell Baekhyun. They have to focus. "I thought–"

"I slept well. I just– The sound bothered me a bit." Kyungsoo tries to inch away, but Baekhyun keeps him in place, pulls him even closer until their thighs are pressed side to side. Baekhyun is warm, as always, but this time their clothes stick to their thighs and– He gulps hard and shifts his gaze to Professor Kwon, focusing his eyes on the display and nothing else. "If those were the gods at work again then Landorus managed to keep things from getting out of hand. But it can only do so much. What if the two other gods wear Landorus down?"

"Landorus is the trio master," Baekhyun says. "They can't be stronger than Landorus. There's a reason why they fear the master, and that's because the master is twice as powerful as they are."

" _Even_ after having to stop multiple attacks?" Kyungsoo snorts. "I don't think so. Pokemon, legendary or otherwise, get worn out. Those are two legendary Pokemon against _just one_."

"But Rayquaza managed to defeat Kyogre and Groudon–"

"It was only one battle. And Rayquaza descended from the heavens at the height of destruction. The damage caused by our genies is nothing compared to what Kyogre and Groudon did. They almost drowned the whole world," Professor Kwon comments.

"And Thundurus just summoned a tsunami big enough to wipe out an island. _Big deal,_ " Baekhyun retorts, shaking his head. "I'm just saying, we've got to stop fearing these gods all the time. Landorus is clearly all for balance and world peace. And we've got to stop attributing all these... I dunno, disasters to the gods. What if there's a storm in Korea's area of responsibility? What if– What if the weather's just really bad? We can't blame them for these things all the time."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then looks to his side. Baekhyun has stopped tracing weird, sloppy drawings on his thigh. Now he's drumming a beat on Kyungsoo's skin, bobbing his head to the melody he's just created. "If we keep doing that then we'll get paranoid about every damn thing. And that's crippling. I don't want to live in fear," Baekhyun adds. He looks to his side, meeting Kyungsoo's steady gaze. Kyungsoo blinks at the first glance, blinks a few more times to refocus his vision because Baekhyun is too close and there's a rule, there's always been a rule to maintain six inches between them else Kyungsoo's already shitty vision will get even shittier– "That's not fun, right?"

"Huh? What–" Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk, and then he's leaning back, moving two, three, four inches away from Baekhyun. Baekhyun makes no effort to pull him back in this time, doesn't hold onto him tight, but when his hand falls to the space between them on the couch, he doesn't curl his fingers into a fist. It's almost as if he's waiting for Kyungsoo to reach out, to _say something._ But then there's nothing to say. They've already talked about this, sort of, and they both know they have a mission to fulfill and a world to save. And frankly, those two are far more important than their lives, combined, right now. "Yeah, that's not fun. Fear isn't fun."

Professor Kwon lets out a long and loud sigh. "You both have a point. But it will be difficult to try to reach Landorus right now, without the Reveal Glass. In their true form, they are able to feel the emotions of humans better. There's more... humanity to them than their being gods would allow. That's what the legend says, at least." She heaves another sigh, then leans back in her seat. Her knees lift for a while, and the next thing they know she's sitting cross-legged on the couch right in the middle of a video call. She's tired, Kyungsoo tells himself. Cut her some slack. Everyone gets tired when pushed too hard. "So in case you two encounter the legendary Pokemon again, any of the three, try not to engage them in battle. Use your Pokemon to talk and connect with the genies, not damage or harm them. The last thing we want is to lead them into thinking that we're not on their side."

"But we're not taking sides," Kyungsoo says. He stands from his seat, straightening up, and takes comfort in the light burn from stretching his back muscles. "We're working towards balance and peace. We're on everyone's good side."

"Except Team Rocket's," Baekhyun comments. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. "C'mon, you guys know I'm right–"

They go on separate ways after the call, Baekhyun heading to the fields to catch some bug and grass-types to add to his Pokedex and Kyungsoo traveling to the mountains to spot a few new Pokemon, maybe catch a couple for his Dex, as well. He's here to train, though, to try to get Grovyle and Kirlia ready for the match against the gym leader. The gym leader is a water-type trainer, after all, and he's heard about the trainer adding some fighting-types into the mix. It makes a lot of sense – they're on an island peppered with mountains and vast fields. Gyms are reflective of the city or town's source of livelihood or its surroundings, after all.

If Sinyuk-ri ever housed a gym then it would either be a fairy or poison-type gym. Fairy because what fuels people to keep going in their little island and even smaller town are their wishes, dreams, goals. And it can also be a poison-type gym because it's these same dreams, the ones that people thought they could solve all the problems in the world with, are the same things that will eat them up and lead them to frustration, disappointment, an endless pit of misery and despair.

Or just tie them back to the island to keep them from leaving, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. He shrugs that offs, shuns it. Tells it to _shut up_ even before Kyungsoo can hear the same voice in his mind again and again.

"You'll have to sit this one out," he tells Trapinch after a while, once he lets the Pokemon out of its capsule to get a bit of fresh air. Wingull comes bursting from its Pokeball, as well, flying in circles and ending with a nice twirl on the tip of its wing as it descends... on Kyungsoo's head. Just like old times, he muses as he lets his Pokemon have their way, as he lets his Pokemon pull him from one direction to another, all showing off their moves like kids seeking affirmation. To Trapinch, he says, "Try attacking the rock from another angle. _Awesome,_ attacking it from the side works– Can you try smashing that rock now in three hits?" To Wingull, he says, "Focus on doing just one thing, buddy. Don't let the other Pokemon unnerve you. Try to find an opening before striking– _Yes,_ great timing on the Aerial Ace!"

To himself, he says, you're doing a pretty decent job at this. Keep it up, Kyungsoo. Just keep going. He curls his fingers in, shivering when he feels his nails dig into his skin. He gives in to the grin pulling up the corners of his lips when Wingull starts smashing rocks with its attacks, firing boomerangs of wind onto a single target without missing any of its shots.

He hears Kirlia's cry of triumph from a distance. Grovyle's dancing from side to side, as well. Trapinch is mostly preoccupied with its own training, trying to burrow its way through tight soil faster, but when it surfaces seconds after it launches itself onto Wingull and tackles it to the ground for a hug.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself. At least his Pokemon can't sense the danger following them around. At least they're happy. He can live with this, if this is what being a good trainer to these four entails. He can make them believe that they will forever be out of harm's way and away from all forms of danger.

He doesn't head back to the city until two, three hours after, with Wingull hitting evolution point and glowing the brightest shade of yellow as it lets out a loud cry. Too early, Kyungsoo recalls saying earlier, but then it makes a lot of sense. Wingull carried him through one of the toughest matches he's ever faced. Wingull has been with him since he entered the forest, has worked with both Ralts and Treecko to help Kyungsoo get out of that maze safely. And maybe it's also pleased with its performance because Pokemon won't ever evolve unless they want to. If Ralts was able to stop itself from evolving too many times already then Wingull should be able to do so, as well, if it felt that it wasn't ready yet.

Pelipper bumps its beak against Kyungsoo's forehead and lets out a loud cry of happiness. Kyungsoo winces. "You can't do that anymore, Pelipper. Your beak's twice the size of my head; you can eat me alive if you wanted to," Kyungsoo groans. Pelipper shakes its head in response and inches closer – no, pulls back and then rushes in Kyungsoo's direction again as if hoping to tackle him to the ground – and Kyungsoo contemplates holding his hands up in defense but– _No._ Pokemon don't like it when their trainers fear them. They just want to be loved. They don't want to scare people away.

He takes a deep breath and opens his arms wide, instead. If he breaks a few bones, well, the Blissey and Chansey in the Pokemon Center can probably help him out. Besides, he was once attacked by a legendary Pokemon and he's still alive. He should be able to take a headbutt from a Pelipper he's trained with his own hands, right? So he mumbles under his breath, "Alright, here goes," bracing himself for the impact of Pelipper's body crashing against his and–

And then Pelipper's nuzzling his cheek with its beak. And then Pelipper's picking him up by the back of his shirt and lifting him off the ground, not biting his head off. And Pelipper's actually bringing him to the Pokemon Center, taking him there faster than his feet can. Kyungsoo lets out a loud exhale and mumbles, "Next time, _next time–_ " but never gets the chance to continue when Pelipper speeds up its pace, flying faster than ever before and taking them to their destination in two, three minutes.

→

The Tokchok Islands' gym isn't the easiest to locate. It's a good twenty-minute walk from the city, closer to the mountains than it is from the fields or any place inhabited by more humans than Pokemon. He finds a couple of new critters along the way – there's the Aron that followed him from when it first spotted him from behind a tree until he reached the foot of the mountain, then a Slakoth that just dropped in front of him halfway through the trip and fell asleep right in the middle of the road. There are also a few Spinarak here and there, but for the most part they just peek from the trees and then slip back into hiding, too afraid to approach foreigners in a land they've come to call home. Kyungsoo gets it, the crippling fear that drives you to hide from people who invade your privacy, the fear that urges you to dig a hole for yourself so you can stay there until the ruckus of voices outside subsides. It's the same fear that has tied him to Sinyuk-ri for years, even when Baekhyun and Sunyoung, his two closest friends back then, have already left.

He laughs to himself. Even Jinki who was raised in the island and proclaimed his eternal love for it soon moved out of the small, cramped place, found a new home in Jeonju-si with his precious bugs. Even Baekbeom who'd sworn he would never leave the place decided to sail away, to far away Sokcho-si where there was a greater chance of earning more money and maybe getting better education. Even Seungsoo who has always been reluctant to move form one place to another decided that hey, we've been stuck here for too long already; shouldn't we be moving on with the rest of our friends? The tsunami just fast-tracked everything, but Seungsoo was already set on leaving Sinyuk-ri with or without Kyungsoo.

It was Kyungsoo who kept dragging his anchor around, leaving nasty marks on the seafloor. It was never his brother or his friends. _He_ was the one who sucked at moving on.

He stops in his tracks when he sees two gold pillars guarding a hole in the mountain. It's just big enough to fit a tall person, Kyungsoo muses, and the darkness inside makes taking a step inside the mountain feel like digging your own grave. The crest of the Pokemon League engraved on the gold pillars makes it feel a bit like a good decision, though, or at least a wise one – the League would never want to put the trainers in danger – so he inches closer, recalls Kirlia to its Pokeball and clips the capsule to his belt.

He takes a deep breath and lets out a loud exhale. Pushes back his glasses that are sliding off the bridge of his nose, as well, before gulping hard. This is it, he tells himself, the start of his gym challenge. He's one step closer to earning his second badge. He's also one step closer to leaving the island that reminds him so much of home.

The cave is... well, it doesn't _feel_ like most caves. For one, there are no Zubats around. There are no Geodudes, and neither are there any Abras popping in and out of each turn. There's a bright light at the end of the path to his right, though, the hole seemingly growing bigger with each step forward. He quickens his pace, then, keeps his right hand on the Pokeballs on his belt just in case a Pokemon appears from nowhere to launch an attack on him. He can't be too sure; going through the cave is probably part of the test, and at the end of the road is the opportunity to face the gym leader.

He trails his gaze to the ground and something pooled at his feet. The liquid is purplish, a bit sticky with the way it sticks to the soles of his running shoes when he attempts to walk away from it and inch closer to the exit. And then he's hearing a weird cry, a loud sound so deafening that he feels a shiver run down his spine and feels his knees shake a little as he covers his ears.

"What the–" The purple liquid begins to wrap around his leg and moves up, its grip on Kyungsoo's leg tightening with each passing second. This isn't just ordinary goo. This is– "Kirlia, use Psyshock on this Grimer!" he calls out faster than he can even push the Pokemon away. He's seen a Grimer before – or was it a Muk? – on television, during one of those broadcasted Pokemon League matches, and he knows very well that Grimers are unrelenting Pokemon that won't stop sucking the energy out of its opponent until the opposition turns purple. Violent and gruesome, yes, but in the hands of skilled trainers these Grimers know when to stop, when to pull away, when to give space to an injured Pokemon and let them breathe a little. "There's a Whis– _A Whismur?_ There's a Whismur behind you! Gro– No. Pelipper, help out Kirlia!"

Pelipper bursts from its Pokeball at the same time that Whismur begins to attack with a wave of sound. Uproar, Kyungsoo's mind registers, then tells both Pelipper and Kirlia to duck. Kirlia manages to free him from the Grimer wound around his leg, but the battle isn't over yet. Soon, more Whismur crowd in on them and shield the exit from their view.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kyungsoo grumbles. He looks at either side of him, shooting both Kirlia and Pelipper with a knowing glance. "Can you two handle this? If we not, we can just make a run for it."

Kirlia kicks him in his calf, and Pelipper brushes the tips of its wing against his cheek. It stings a little, just enough to let him know that these two Pokemon beside him are ready to go down with him, if the going gets too tough. "Alright. Kirlia, light up the place with Dazzling Gleam. Aim it to the roof of the cave. Pelipper, I'll need you to..." He shakes his head. "We can't weaken them with sound-based attacks. Can you hit them with those wind boomerangs again?"

Pelipper makes flapping motions with its wings, alternating between the left and the right as if asking Kyungsoo for confirmation. "Yeah, that one," he answers. He keeps his voice soft and low so as to not startle the Whismur and urge them to attack even more. "Okay, ready? In one, two, three–"

Kirlia fires off the Dazzling Gleam first, lighting up a huge area of the cave and making the scene unfolding in front of them clearer than before. There are at least a dozen – no, _twenty_ – Whismur in front of them, and then some of its evolution at the back. Loudred, says a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind. He whips up his Pokedex from his back pocket and holds it up against the horde of Pokemon in front of them. They can beat all of these Pokemon to a pulp, yes, but by the time they get to the gym leader, all his Pokemon will already be too beat to battle. He cracks his neck. He should've brought two more Pokemon with him, not only the ones he's been training with for a while already. He should've given the other Pokemon a chance.

The Pokedex picks up another Pokemon nearby. Its image doesn't pop up on screen yet, but the soft sound keeps ringing, the light at the corner of the Dex keeps glowing the brightest shade of green.

"Trapinch, help us out!" he says, then throws Trapinch's Pokeball to the side. He can feel Grovyle's Pokeball shaking where it's clipped on the belt, so he says, "No, I'm saving you for later. Trust your teammates; they can handle this." The shaking doesn't still yet, even as Kirlia, Pelipper, and Trapinch begin to launch their attacks – Kirlia hitting two Pokemon at a time with Dazzling Gleam and Trapinch using Rock Throw on the Whismur to wear and slow them down. Pelipper takes down one Whismur after another with Air Slash, thinning the horde of Whismur and Loudred attacking them, but the Whismur just keep popping up. And every shot his Pokemon fire leaves them open to attacks, ready to be taken down and defeated until they faint in exhaustion.

He feels something tugging on the hem of his shorts. He shakes his leg a little, trying to wean off the sensation. Maybe he's just imagining things. Or maybe this is fatigue at work – walking a long distance and battling this many Pokemon with only three in his arsenal takes its toll on you after a while. But then he feels it again, the violent tug on his shorts, nails scratching his skin and a sudden rush of cold wrapping around his leg.

"What the _fuck–_ " he blurts out when he drops his gaze to his leg. There's a purple Pokemon wrapped around it, clinging to his leg like a lifeline, and the Pokemon is... grinning at him with its sharp teeth? _What the hell?_ But this is a Pokemon and trainer school has taught them never to harm Pokemon unless these critters are already threatening to take their lives.

Pelipper begins to slow down in its attacks. From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Trapinch's legs shaking and the rocks it's summoning becoming smaller in size. The Pokemon around his leg kicks him, then pokes his skin as if trying to get his attention, as if trying to _tell him something,_ trying to make him understand–

The gem on the Pokemon's chest glows. Kyungsoo tries to walk, tries to shake the Pokemon off, but he can't move his fingers, his hands, can't even feel his limbs. He can hear the Pokemon's thoughts at the very back of his head, though, like a distant echo of voices. Lots of them. _Let me help,_ he hears an eerie voice telling him. The Pokemon cocks its head in the horde's direction. _You have to use their power against them. You have to take down the leader of the horde. I know where to find her._

Kyungsoo blinks a few times and gulps hard. _I'm just saying, we've got to stop fearing these gods all the time,_ he recalls Baekhyun saying, hears Baekhyun's voice echoing in his mind. If this Pokemon – Sableye, his mind registers – wanted to harm him a long time ago then it would've attacked him as soon as it saw him just like those Whismur slowly whittling down the health and energy of his Pokemon. Sableye just wants to help. There's nothing to fear. He bobs his head, then, tries to nod, at least, because even his neck feels as if its stuck in place and every tiny jerk of his body feels as if his skin is being ripped from his flesh. Sableye detaches itself from Kyungsoo's leg, landing on its two feet. Kyungsoo sinks to his knees, whispers just close enough to Sableye, saying, "Tell me where she is." Sableye laugh, its shrill, eerie voice reaching Kyungsoo's senses and making him shiver.

He shakes his head. Pinches himself, as well. He's got to get used to this. Not all Pokemon look cute and cuddly all the time. Much like people, there are those that look as if they could kill, Pokemon that look as if they're made to wreck havoc upon the land but in fact are the sweetest, tamest of all the critters.

Sableye disappears from where it was earlier and appears behind the Whismur at the middle. It parts it dark, purple lips, revealing pointed teeth. Its blue gem eyes twinkle at the same time that the stone on it chest glimmers. "Pelipper, Air Slash that Whismur!" he calls out, pointing where Sableye is. "Sableye, duck!"

Sableye nods, then pulls away with the same big smile it wore just a few seconds ago. When the boomerangs of wind hit the Whismur at the middle, the 'leader' of the horde, as Sableye has put it, Sableye begins knocking down the other Whismur on the field, taking them down them even before they can launch an attack.

They clean up the scene in the longest ten minutes of Kyungsoo's life. Trapinch has shown some signs of fatigue even before they could finish, but it stuck with them, helped take out the last two, three Whismurs with the combined powers of Kirlia's Dazzling Gleam, Pelipper's Air Slash, and Sableye's Dark Pulse. The result is a thick layer of smoke covering the exit, but that doesn't matter anymore. Kyungsoo can see the end again, the bright light a few feet away that the Whismurs were covering earlier. And he can see, as well, the figure standing feet away from the exit, can hear the sound of water crashing, can feel excitement – not fear – thumping in his chest again, the pulse in the back of his elbows and knees quickening with each step forward.

"Thanks for helping us," Kyungsoo tells Sableye. His knees feel weak, like they might give up on him anytime, but he crouches low, anyway. Reaches out, too, letting his hand hover Sableye's head and not quite patting the Pokemon just yet. Some Pokemon aren't fond of being touched, aren't accustomed to humans showing them affection. So he waits – waits for Sableye to stop staring at the hand hovering its head, waits for Sableye to meet him in the eye again and give him a go signal that yes, he can pat the Pokemon's head, it's no big deal. Waits for Sableye to leave because while it lent Kyungsoo a hand earlier, Kyungsoo hadn't really caught it. Sableye is still a wild Pokemon, eligible to be captured by trainers who chance upon it.

Sableye bumps its head against Kyungsoo's hand and soon leans into his touch. It keeps flinching, though, like it isn't accustomed to this kind of warmth. Maybe it really isn't. Maybe it isn't everyday that these Whismur attack trainers who are hoping to earn the Drizzle badge here in the heart of the mountain. Maybe it isn't everyday that trainers stick around long enough to actually power through the cave. And maybe it isn't everyday that trainers listen to Sableye's warnings or seek its help. It's so easy to fear Pokemon, these creatures who have spent their lives protecting their trainers from harm _but_ are prepared to attack other Pokemon, sometimes even humans, that attempt to do something and anything bad to their trainer. Maybe Kyungsoo's the first trainer who stopped and listened to Sableye and didn't just shrug off the Pokemon.

Sableye knocks on a Pokeball on Kyungsoo's belt, and out comes Kirlia. Sableye looks at Kirlia with wide, wide eyes, then snickers when Kirlia groans at suddenly being summoned. Kirlia reaches out, then, touching the gem at the center of Sableye's chest, and suddenly Sableye's body is aglow. An bright red light wraps around its body, lifts it off the ground for a moment, and then guides Sableye back down on two feet.

And then Kirlia touches Kyungsoo's arm, linking him to Sableye somehow. He can hear Sableye's voice better now, the small, shy tone behind the obnoxious snickering asking, _Will you tame me, please? If you don't want to, it's fine, but– Can I– Can I come with you?_

Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk at the sudden loss of warmth pressed to his side. He faces his left, meeting Kirlia in the eye for the briefest of moments, then he turns to Sableye, asking, "You want to come with us?"

Sableye drops its gaze to its feet for a moment, then it's looking up at Kyungsoo and nodding its head, each repetition weaker than the previous. Almost as if it's saying, _shit, I've been discovered–_ and it wants to take back everything that it let Kirlia see when Kirlia touched the gem at the center of its chest.

It lets out one last cry before inching away, stuttering in its steps as it puts space between itself and Kyungsoo. Sableye begins to wave its arms, shaking its head in accord, stopping only when Kyungsoo holds a Pokeball in front of it, still maintaining a good three, four inches between them.

Sableye pokes the capsule with its sharp claws, then looks up at Kyungsoo. "You said you wanted to come with us. You'll have to get inside the Pokeball for that to happen," Kyungsoo explains, but– Sableye is still shaking its head and scratching the Pokeball and every part of it that isn't the button at the middle. It's almost as if Sableye is saying, _wait, hold up. I need time to process this. It started out as a joke but you're... really letting me join you?_

Kirlia walks forward and hits Sableye on the back of its head. Sableye stutters in its steps, then, forehead bumping into the button at the middle of the Pokeball and opening the capsule.

"You can still back out if you aren't sure about this," Kyungsoo whispers, but Sableye makes no effort to run away from the red beam wrapping around its limbs. Soon, Sableye's body is glowing the brightest shade of red, the rest of its color being swallowed by light and then contained in a tiny, round capsule that lands on the ground, completely still.

Kirlia rolls its eyes. Bumps its hip against Kyungsoo's side, as well. If years of training alongside Ralts, of this grown up Kirlia, are anything to go by then he knows that this means, _the Pokemon was taking too long to decide. I just fast-tracked things. Aren't you proud of me?_

Kyungsoo reaches out to ruffle Kirlia's hair, then extends his arms in Kirlia's direction. Kirlia takes it as its cue to climb up, then, sitting on Kyungsoo's shoulder and leaning its head against Kyungsoo's own like it's always meant to be there. Like a habit. Just like old times.

→

Tokchok Islands's gym isn't the conventional kind of gym, by any means. It's located smack in the middle of a mountain, and on top of that there's a Chansey waiting to heal your Pokemon once you reach the exit of the cave. There's a small pool separating the entrance to the gym from the field, itself, as well. And the field isn't one of those standard flat surface the size of a tennis court – this gym has a muddy field as the playing area.

Kyungsoo blinks twice, tells himself again and again that _this_ is a gym challenge for a good reason. The battles are not supposed to be easy. Utilizing the field to the best of your abilities isn't the easiest of tasks, either.

"Congratulations on making it this far. And welcome to my... rather unconventional gym." The leader chuckles. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows for a second at the sound, at the familiar tone that triggers a few memories at the very back of his mind – rushing to the fish port to help out someone with the catch for the day, then offering to help clean the fish. Baekhyun tugging on the sleeve of Kyungsoo's shirt because, "He's gonna leave us to fry chicken in the market! Quick, Soo, we have to finish cleaning these fish–" Seeking help from someone two years their senior and always, always, _always_ setting aside time to listen to his stories about his quick adventures with his brother and father. Baekhyun letting out a long and loud sigh as he whispers, "I wanna be like him someday. He's... such an icon. I want to be just like him."

"You're the... second trainer in twenty-four hours to get out of the cave unscathed. I'm actually impressed," the leader goes on to say, then begins to make his descent from the top of the waterfall, diving straight into the pool of water before him. Kyungsoo takes a few steps back, shields his eyes with his hand when he feels droplets of water stick to his cheeks, his arms, his legs. The first thought that crosses his mind is _exhibitionist_ ; the second, _I knew for sure that I was entering a Pokemon gym but how the hell did he get those abs?_

He feels something bump against him from behind, then hears a tiny yelp. "Whoops, sorry about– Joonmyun-hyung?" comes an even more familiar voice that makes his whole body jerk, makes his insides turn and the pads of his fingers grow cold. Too fast, a voice at the back of his mind says. His body has a knee-jerk reaction to all things Baekhyun; the flutter in his chest may be one of them. "You're the leader of the Tokchok– _Whoa._ "

"Years after and you two are still a dynamic duo. I've got to say, I'm pretty jealous," the leader – no, Joonmyun, _Kim Joonmyun,_ the same guy who Baekhyun fawned over for years until Joonmyun had to leave to officially begin his Pokemon journey – says as he surfaces from the water. Droplets trickle down the expanse of skin, following the trail to the dip of his torso. Kyungsoo gulps hard. He's never harbored more than respect for Joonmyun, but the Joonmyun facing him right now is... just difficult to look away from. His muscles are more toned now, _chiseled._ Sort of like he'd walked out of a museum after serving his eight hours there as a sculpture depicting perfection.

"I feel so emotionally compromised by his abs," Baekhyun mutters, voice shaking. Kyungsoo hits him with his elbow, making sure to twist it in Baekhyun's stomach until Baekhyun squirms. His stomach does that funny tumble again and there's a faint voice at the back of his mind saying, look away, don't look at him, _just look at me–_

"It's nice to see you two here, though, after all these years." Joonmyun locks his arms behind his back, stretching, and Kyungsoo catches the tiny whimper that spills from Baekhyun's lips. He hits Baekhyun again. "How's Sunyoungie? Why isn't she with you two?"

Joonmyun is part of the last batch of trainers who started traveling the world at the early age of ten. Everybody sort of saw it coming, even if he'd always said that he wanted to specialize in the sciences, develop the best kind of Potion and other medicines for Pokemon. He was an excellent trainer, after all, even in his younger days, and had a natural skill for reaching Pokemon with just a small smile or the touch of a hand. So when he finally broke the news to everyone – Sinyuk-ri is small; almost everyone knows everything there is to know – all the residents were thrilled. There was a big send off for Joonmyun, sort of like the one the people had for Jinki when he left. Joonmyun _was_ one of the lucky few that made it to the roster after the government announced that people aspiring to be trainers the following year must be at least twenty years old when they file for an intent to pursue the trainer track. _It's for your own protection,_ the officials said, but Kyungsoo knew the real story – two trainers were reported to have been kidnapped by the evil organization named 'Team Rocket' and convinced the kids that the right way to train Pokemon was by inspiring fear in them, not by gaining their trust.

Joonmyun wasn't the type who'd go rouge, but who knows? Kyungsoo kept his fingers crossed the whole time, watched every televised tournament where Joonmyun was competing and memorized his playing style to the very last detail. It was usually Baekhyun who'd block off time to watch and hog the television, but Kyungsoo didn't mind studying Joonmyun with Baekhyun by his side. Whatever he had to say, Baekhyun already screamed out for him – "You've got to be kidding– Who the hell uses a Magikarp competitively– That's the most gimmicky team I've ever seen but _shit,_ he actually made it work!"

"She... went to Seoul the year after you left," Kyungsoo answers, pressing his lips together in a tight smile. One of the rumors the circulated before Joonmyun left was that Sunyoung rejected him after he tried to ask her out. He and Baekhyun knew the truth, though – Joonmyun couldn't come within a three-foot radius of Sunyoung even if he wanted to. It was _that bad._ And Sunyoung would always laugh at him because, _He looks best with a blush on his cheeks. One that I've put there._ And then she'd snicker. The two wouldn’t ever be able to hold a long enough conversation with each other, though; somehow, their fear of being a blunder in front of each other was always greater than that of their desire to know each other better. "With the rest of her family, I mean. I'm sure she embarked on her own journey, as well, but from what I know the closest Pokemon pick-up point to Seoul is the one in Gyeonggi-do. Maybe she started up north," Kyungsoo continues after a while. "She sent a letter every month the first year she was in Seoul but the letters stopped coming in after that."

"And then the war happened," Baekhyun adds. He steps to his side, then rests his weight against Kyungsoo's for a bit. His skin is warm. Baekhyun has always been strangely warm all the fucking time. "Pretty sure she's been trying to keep in touch but the war just... really messed things up, y'know?"

If you're trying to reason out with me why you never called then _this isn't the right time,_ Kyungsoo wants to say. He doesn't. They may be in the presence of an old friend but they're here on official business. They have a badge to earn _and then_ a mission to complete. Professor Kwon might summon them anytime and pull them out of the gym challenge if needed because saving people's lives is far more important than training Pokemon; that's a given. So he tells himself, again and again, focus. Challenge Joonmyun, win, then get the badge. Then fly out of the place as soon as he can so he can reach Seoul before it gets too dark and–

"That's true. The war... did affect a lot of things. I'm actually glad these islands are still afloat, you know? The Tokchok Islands were hit really badly by the war and Kyogre almost wiped us out from the world map." Joonmyun laughs a little, then lets out a long exhale. "Only almost, because Rayquaza and Arceus finally came down from the heavens after being asleep for so long. I guess even both gods wanted to believe that Team Rocket had a bit of goodness in them, a tiny spark of light. DIdn’t want to attack unless they absolutely had to."

Kyungsoo snorts. It's foolish to try to believe that there's sill goodness in everyone, especially after Team Rocket kidnapped those children and turned them into heartless leaders of destruction and the war. But it's even more foolish, he muses as Baekhyun nudges him in his side one more time, probably to snap him out of his trance, to keep relapsing to two years ago when everyone has already moved on from it.

Even Kirlia has broken free from the ghosts of its past. It's time for Kyungsoo to do his part. Now, if only he could shake off the tight ring of Baekhyun's hand on his wrist without causing himself some harm, as well.

“Anyway!” Joonmyun claps his hands, then breathes out a sigh. “Battle, yes? No time to waste!"

Joonmyun walks over to the scanner system and takes what seems to be a coin. He rejoins them after a while, tossing the coin in the air every few seconds as he says, "Pick a side and agree on who goes first.” He finishes with a smile, then looks at both trainers for a while. Kyungsoo catches the way Baekhyun's lips quiver and the way the tight corners of his eyes soften, crinkling as he grins. Joonmyun pays no attention to the two; instead, he tosses the coin in the air and fixes his eyes on it as it makes its descent. Baekhyun claims 'heads' at once, then, and Kyungsoo shrugs as he mutters 'tails' under his breath. It doesn't matter. There's always a way to bounce back from any tough battle. He doesn't need to go last just so he can asses the right style to go for when playing against Joonmyun. He doesn't need anyone's help; just his Pokemon's.

The coin lands on the back of Joonmyun's hand and Joonmyun immediately covers it with his palm. "The opposite face goes first, for a change?" Joonmyun suggests. The two nod in agreement. Joonmyun begins to peel his palm off the back of his other hand, then, commenting as he goes along, "I'm liking this change. If you two were still eight or ten, you'd probably be contesting my suggestion and then beating each other up after that."

"We don't beat each other up. Baekhyun's lame at contact sports," Kyungsoo mumbles, meeting Baekhyun's gaze and offering a sly smile.

"More like, I just let you win," Baekhyun retorts, then sticks out his tongue. He extends a hand in Kyungsoo's direction, though. "Because you look cute when you hold your arms up high and do your weird victory dance and–"

Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at the first loud thump in his chest. _Not the right time._ He gulps hard. "Shut up," he answers, his default response to things he doesn't know how to approach. "You're making yourself sound stupid again."

Baekhyun lifts his eyebrows, possibly in mock surprise, but something about the way Baekhyun's lips fall open into a small 'o' tell Kyungsoo that Baekhyun's been caught off-guard just now. The thumping in his chest quickens, and the steady beating of his pulse against his skin grows quicker, stronger, _wilder._ Still, he ignores it, tries not to drop his gaze to the gentle swell of Baekhyun's lips as he licks them open, coaxing them to pull up into a smile.

"Shut up," he says before Baekhyun can utter another word. Baekhyun holds his hands up in defense. Maybe Kyungsoo should, too; that smile on Baekhyun's lips is a killer. "Just _shut up–_ "

"Well, this is 'heads' so... Kyungsoo goes first," Joonmyun declares. He turns to his left, addressing Kyungsoo with a nod, then continues, "You're aware of the rules, I take it? A best of three match without any time limits?"

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows for a moment, one finger lifted in the air, then drops his hand to his side. "Maybe we– Maybe we should set a limit," he tries. "Baekhyun and I have to be in Seoul before it gets too dark. Professor's orders."

" _Oh,_ so you're part of the prog–" Joonmyun shakes his head. "Never mind, I should have seen that coming. She wouldn't be sending off unqualified trainers, especially after the war. They're more particular with the people enlisting to be trainers these days... So!" Joonmyun claps his hands together, then steps to the side. "Feel free to run your three Pokemon by the system. We start battling right after that."

Kyungsoo nods, then takes a deep breath. He looks over his shoulder, casting a glance at Baekhyun one last time before taking a step forward.

Setting foot on the field feels like walking on mud all over. It isn't even supposed to feel this way – there's more water here than soil, with the flowing water coming from the waterfalls reaching their ankles. Kyungsoo's never been more thankful that he wore shorts on this trip. He runs his hands along the Pokeballs clipped to his belt, trying to get a feel of each and every single one of them. Trapinch won't be a good Pokemon to bring to this match, not even after all the training it has gone through to prove its worth. It doesn't make sense to bring a ground-type against a water trainer – _a gym leader_ – after all. And with the kind of field he has to work with, Trapinch will only be running into more trouble than anything else.

He takes a deep breath and pulls out Pelipper's Pokeball from his belt. "Should be a solid choice," he mutters, then slots Grovyle's Pokeball to the left of Pelipper's own. Kirlia hasn't battled in a while in such a competitive environment, but he's positive Kirlia will be able to help out a lot in this match up. "I've picked my three Pokemon," he then says, looking over where Joonmyun is as soon as he's placed Kirlia's Pokeball in the scanner. "I'll go with these three."

Joonmyun lifts his eyebrows, then offers a small smile. Water goes well with him. It's the perfect element that captures his personality and playing style – fluid, quick to adapt, unpredictable. He can be the nicest, calmest person you'll ever meet, but on the field he can be a ruthless trainer who will capitalize on the smallest moments of surrender that he spots his opponents falling prey to.

Kyungsoo walks over to his side of the field, gripping one Pokeball in his hand tight. "Welcome to your Tokchok Islands gym challenge, Do Kyungsoo," Joonmyun says as an introduction. Standard League procedure. Kyungsoo can recite this if he wants to. It used to be the mantra his heart would sing to whenever he watched recordings of some of the best gym challenge matches the world has ever seen. It used to be just that silly block of text Kyungsoo had written down on the last page of _every notebook_ he has ever owned. And now, here he is, hearing it from Joonmyun's lips. Hearing it for the second time. He tries not to giggle. "This will be a best of three challenge. The first to knock out two of the opponent's Pokemon wins. Score two victories against me to earn the Drizzle badge. Lose two Pokemon and you'll have the chance to challenge the gym again the following day. Understood?"

Kyungsoo bites the inside of this cheek. He can't wait another day just to get his badge. He has to earn it right here, right now. Losing isn't an option. Still, he nods, wearing his best smile as he tells Joonmyun, "Understood."

"Okay. Let's begin," Joonmyun says. He tosses the first Pokeball in the air and Kyungsoo follows suit, summoning his first Pokemon for the match. Both critters emerge from the balls wrapped in bright red light, landing on their two feet as they reach the ground.

 _Two feet? But water-types are–_ Kyungsoo blinks a few times as the form of the Pokemon comes into focus. Green skin, then a big yellow circle as its belly. Its toes, fingers, and its are mouth are yellow, as well, and there's a thin green swirl drawn across its stomach. It looks a lot like the rod popping from the head of the Pokemon. He remembers seeing this Pokemon before, during the famous water trainer Kim Jaejoong's match against the champion of the Pokemon League that time, Shim Changmin. It wasn't the most conventional of choices, what with the Pokemon's subpar speed, but if there's absolutely one reason to use this Pokemon, it's for its ability to summon a rain anytime, anywhere, and make it last even after it has fainted in battle.

"Politoed," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. He gulps hard and looks at Kirlia who's just a few feet away. "Kirlia, you have to be careful. Politoed's water-type attacks will be more powerful once it summons the rain."

Kirlia looks over its shoulder and gives Kyungsoo a firm nod in response. Kirlia's lips are tugged up to one side, the answer to a challenge written all over the stretch of its body as Kirlia lunges, bends its knees, and opens its hands in Politoed's direction.

If there's any Pokemon that can play mind games with any of Kyungsoo's opponents, then it has to be Kirlia. Kirlia knows Kyungsoo inside and out, doesn't need to be told what to do or when it has to do anything. They've been training alongside each other for the longest time already that Kirlia knows, just by hearing Kyungsoo's shallow breathing, that Kyungsoo wants Kirlia to take a defensive stance, stop firing attacks, focus more on the defense. Kirlia _knows,_ just by shuffle of Kyungsoo's feet that Kyungsoo is ready to be on the offense, that Kyungsoo wants his Pokemon to fire one shot after another, wants Kirlia to deliver the final blow by focusing all of its power in a single attack that will surely take out its foe.

Kirlia kicks water in Kyungsoo's direction. Kyungsoo snorts. This is Kirlia's way of saying, _I think you're forgetting that I can read your thoughts and your emotions even without looking at you, silly master. I can do this. We can do this. Have more faith in your friends._ So Kyungsoo clenches his fists, focuses all of his attention on the match unfolding in front of him and not on Baekhyun cheering him on from the sidelines, waving his arms in the air a few feet away.

"Go ahead, fire the first attack," Joonmyun says, lips curled up at the corners in a sly, sinister smile. Kyungsoo gulps hard. "Pretty sure your Kirlia's really excited to battle here. The gym has that kind of effect on Pokemon."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. "She's excited for us to earn the badge."

"Well then, get your ass moving," Joonmyun teases. He clears his throat, then adds, "Or else I'll beat your sorry ass and make you wish you didn't even try to get through that cave just to get to where you are right now."

Kyungsoo nods. Fixes his eyes on Kirlia, then calls out, "Kirlia, Calm Mind!"

Purple rings surround Kirlia and wrap around its body. The hoops of light disappear after a while, when Kirlia stretches its arms out to the sides. Kyungsoo shivers a little. It isn't from Kirlia summoning all the power in its body and trying to amplify it so it can battle better in the next few minutes – he's seen this before – but it's from Politoed summoning rain and firing off an Icy Wind in Kirlia's direction. Kirlia dodges the attack, jumping back a few spaces and then running to the left to find a new place in the field it can stand on, but some of the ice Politoed had fired off earlier wraps around Kirlia's legs, slowing it down.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Speed control is always important in any battle. It increases the risk of landing critical hits on opposing Pokemon. It makes it easier for some attacks to make Pokemon flinch. And it makes sense for Joonmyun to teach Politoed Icy Wind; a slow Pokemon needs to find a way to slow its opponents down, needs to find a way to catch up. And by Politoed hitting Kirlia with an Icy Wind on the first turn, it makes Kirilia's job of cleaning up the first match in ten minutes or less much more difficult.

"Can you still move around? Does anything hurt?" Kyungsoo asks Kirlia. Kirlia risks a glance and sinks its legs in the running water again. That should help thaw it out. There's another way, though. If he could just bait Joonmyun to– "Kirlia, move closer to Politoed and attack it with a Psyshock!"

"Why engage in close combat when you can fire psychic attacks from a distance?" Jooonmyun says, laughing. "You're funny. And weird. I guess some things don't change." He shifts his gaze, then, and fixes it on the back of Politoed's head. "Politoed, use Icy Wind on the water! Freeze the whole field over!"

Kyungsoo grins. If there's one thing that his instructors have always commended him for then it's his ability to make full use of any field and use it _against_ his opponents.

Kirlia runs away from Politoed's perimeter, rushing to the far back where Politoed can't see it. "Use Calm Mind again!" Kyungsoo calls out from where he is, voice just loud enough to rise above the sound of crashing water and Politoed's cries. Almost half the field is already frozen when Politoed finishes, but the rain is still up. Every droplet creates the faintest marking on the thin sheet of ice. The bigger droplets manage to crack through the sheet, falling into the pool of running water beneath it, but that's all it can do. The gym is cold enough that Politoed's body begins to give a tiny jerk, enough that the tips of Kirlia's hair stand and Kirlia shivers just a little.

"Why don't you freeze the other half? We can turn the gym into a skating rink. Should be fun," Kyungsoo tells Joonmyun.

Joonmyun only rolls his eyes. The rain intensifies and the swirl on Politoed's stomach begins to turn. Kyungsoo remembers reading about this before, back when he was still in trainer school – the swirl is indicative of Politoed's condition. The slightest change an influx in emotions, a change in mood, sometimes even a change in attack. In some cases, it speaks volumes of Poltoed's fighting spirit. The swirl hasn't stopped turning yet. This can go a number of ways, Kyungsoo muses – Politoed might be trying to hypnotize Kirlia, might be trying to stop Kirlia in its tracks by putting it to sleep _and then_ taking that opportunity to whittle down its health by firing its shots at a close range. Or maybe Politoed might be feeling itself slow down. Maybe this is a sign of panic. Maybe _this_ is Joonmyun playing mind games on Kyungsoo, trying to distract him, break his focus. Maybe this is a battle between trainers and not Pokemon.

Kirlia's body gives a tiny jerk. Kyungsoo shakes his head in response, whispering to himself, not yet, not yet. Wait for it, Kirlia, just a little more– And then Politoed begins to move, rushing in Kirlia's direction. Its steps are sure, certain, _confident,_ unlike the stuttered steps the Pokemon was taking before, and it pushes its body away from Kirlia when it comes within a two-feet range of Kyungsoo's Pokemon, jumping back and putting the swirling mark on its belly on full display before Kirlia's eyes.

Ready, and– "Lucky Chant, now!" Kyungsoo calls out in his loudest voice. He can feel his throat tightening, can feel the sharp taste of metal run along the stretch of his throat, but it doesn't matter. A thin veil of protection cloaks Kirlia, shielding his Pokemon from any risky and critical hits that Politoed might have been planning to aim in its direction. He hears Joonmyun chuckling a few feet away, hears Joonmyun muttering something low under his breath. He tells himself, focus, focus, _focus,_ and keeps his eyes trained on Kirlia as the Pokemon jumps from one place to another, speeding past Politoed and inching close to the thin sheet of ice.

"Come on, do it," Kyungsoo whispers as he clenches his fists. Kirlia hasn't stopped moving yet. He can feel his knees shaking, can feel the loud and thundering pulse at the back of his ears. It's deafening. It's becoming colder with every passing second, with every step Kirlia takes away from Politoed and closer to its staring point, closer to where Kyungsoo is. Kyungsoo tries to shake off the traitorous cold crawling under his skin, numbing him. Tries to shake off the feeling that Joonmyun probably has more tricks up his sleeve and probably won't fall for the trick Kyungsoo wants Joonmyun to fall for.

 _Have more faith in your friends,_ he hears Kirlia telling him again, more clearly now at the back of his head. He gulps hard. He blinks a few times when he feels the cool prickling sensation reach his irises. _Have more faith in yourself._

Joonmyun shifts in his position, dragging one foot back and crossing his arms in front. The expression on his face hasn't waned yet, but his eyebrows are now furrowed a little. And his shoulders have slumped. In all the years that he's watched Baekhyun watch Joonmyun – train and raise Pokemon, battle with them, study about them, walk and talk and breathe – he's only seen Joonmyun like this twice. The first was when he knew he was about to lose his very first battle in trainer school. The second was when Sinyuki-ri's most famous Pokemon Professor, Professor Jung, announced that he had to leave the island because he was assigned to a place that needed him more than the little island did. When Professor Jung told them that they were all capable of raising Pokemon properly, "You don't need my help anymore. You're all big boys and girls now."

"But– But–" Joonmyun said then, was never able to continue because he'd poured all his energy into shutting his eyes and curling his fingers in a fist and trying not to cry. He was failing miserably at it. "But it's _unfair!_ You belong here, Professor! You belong here in Sinyuk-ri! You can't leave–"

Joonmyun huffs, then shrugs his shoulders. He licks his lips as he parts them and Kyungsoo balls his hands into fists in anticipation. "I don't think I have a choice," Joonmyun begins, scoffing before he continues, "Politoed, use Scald on the field!"

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling too much. It's proving to be a chore.

Politoed stays still in its spot, moving only when it opens its mouth to release a hot stream of water. The first contact melts the thin sheet of ice at once, too quickly; the second contact sends a rush of heat in the soft ripples of the rushing water, makes the pool they all have their feet dipped in warmer than before. The heat isn't prickling, just warm enough to thaw out the band of ice that had wrapped around Kirlia's legs and had slowed it down considerably during the first few minutes. It's enough to make Kyungsoo want to unbutton his shirt if he was even wearing a button-down, enough to make a bead of sweat roll from his forehead down to trace the curve of his face and then settle on the jut of his collarbone. And it's enough to breathe new life into Kirlia, enough to urge Kirlia to hop from one place to another as it feels itself unbound from the chains of Politoed's Icy Wind.

Kyungsoo gulps hard. He can't get reckless, though. It's too early to call this a win.

"Full throttle, now, don't stop!" Joonmyun calls out. His voice cracks as it peaks, cracks as he moves even closer to where the Pokemon are battling on the field. Gym rules dictate that neither the trainer nor the gym leader must step inside the battling grounds, but it's becoming difficult to just stay rooted in their spot and not rush to wherever their Pokemon are to help them out. It's becoming so, so difficult to not scream out whatever he wants to instruct Kirlia to do, how he wants Kirlia to counter each of Politoed's attacks and finally score one point higher than Joonmyun. Right now, the score boards say that both Politoed and Kirlia are at 75% of their health. Or 70%, rather, because both of them keep taking damage from the scorching heat of the waters.

"Politoed, keep using Scald on the pool!" Joonmyun yells after a while. "I know you can do it, Politoed! Come on!"

The vast pool soon becomes cloaked in a thick sheet of white. From where Kyungsoo is, he can only make out Kirlia's faint figure and Politoed's even hazier one. They're close, though, almost just two feet apart, but neither Pokemon is rushing to attack each other. They're stalling this battle out, with Joonmyun trying to make the waters unbearably hot and Kyungsoo just– Standing still? Not doing a thing? Hoping to know what Kirlia feels would work out best for this situation? _No._ He's waiting for the right moment, waiting things out. Waiting for that small window of opportunity when he can strike Joonmyun the hardest and– _Now!_ "Kirlia, control the waters using Psyshock!" he orders, and soon the blob of black a few feet away starts moving from side to side, three steps to the one the other takes. Two strong beats at the very back of Kyungsoo's mind where Kirlia's thoughts reside to the three shallow thumps in Kyungsoo's chest.

He can feel the strong waves beating against his skin, rising with every passing second until Kyungsoo can feel the prickling warmth at the back of his knees. He can hear Baekhyun's panicked screeching a meter or two away, can hear the shuffling of Baekhyun's steps. And he can hear Kirlia whispering to him. Kirlia's saying, _If I attack now then we might destroy the whole gym. We can't do that. What do you want me to do?_

Use the torrent as a distraction and try to control the water inside Politoed's body, he muses in response. It sounds unorthodox, trying to use a Pokemon's own typing against it, but that's what being a good trainer entails, right? Knowing a Pokemon well enough to know how to turn its strengths into weaknesses?

He shakes his head. Whispers low, under his breath, "Flush the hot water inside Politoed's body. Don't touch the blood vessels anymore." Kirlia lets out a sharp cry from a distance and the next thing Kyungsoo knows, he's hearing the Politoed's strangled cries, feeling the ring of heat around his ankles dissipate, seeing Kirlia's figure standing a foot away from Politoed's own on the water as the thick white smoke thins into breathable air again.

Kyungsoo cranes his beck, trying to see Politoed better. Its legs are twitching and its chest is still heaving. And Kirlia's knees are shaking, _weakening._ There's still a chance for Politoed to get back into the match, to somehow knock Kirlia out from where it's standing at such a close range without the aid of super effective attacks, but the chances are so slim. He can tell Kirlia to finish the match with a Psyshock now, tell Kirlia to capitalize on Politoed practically being tied to the floor of the pool because of its weakening state, but– _No,_ he tells himself. That's not the right way to end the first match. All Pokemon must go down in fights in honor, fighting 'til the very end. No Pokemon must ever be beaten to a pulp and not given a chance to get back up, especially in a gym challenge. So Kirlia inches back, gives Politoed a bit of space but doesn't quite let its guard down yet. Kirlia has its palms glowing and facing Politoed, ready for when Politoed tries to launch an attack in its direction.

Politoed tries to push itself up, but soon it falls into a heap of limbs in the pool. Politoed's health meter on the Pokemon tracking system goes down, thinning from 5% to zero, and only then does Kirlia drop its arms to its side. Only then does Kyungsoo let out the loudest exhale, blowing out the last packet of air against his bangs. And only then does Joonmyun let his shoulders fall forward, the lines of tension on Joonmyun's forehead easing and lifting.

Joonmyun rushes to where Politoed is as soon as the score board marks the win in Kyungsoo's favor. Politoed doesn't budge, just kind of stares at Joonmyun for the longest time before stretching its arms up, asking to be carried to a much safer place. Maybe somewhere where the heat isn't prickling, or a place where it can just take a break away from the waters, try to reacquaint itself with the very element that was used against it. "For a moment there, I thought you were going to attack Politoed after it went down," Joonmyun whispers after a while. He holds Politoed close to his chest and plants a soft kiss on his Pokemon’s forehead. Politoed lets out a low, satisfied sound. It sounds a lot like crooning. And the hard lines of tension on Joonmyun’s forehead have eased into something more relaxed, less laden with worry. "I'm glad you didn't."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. He can’t tell if he should be insulted or if he should just let this slide. Joonmyun’s just concerned about Politoed, after all. Any trainer in his position would feel that crippling fear of watching his Pokemon go down in battle and faint from an attack executed at such a close range. So Kyungsoo shrugs, simply mumbles, “I’m not that kind of trainer,” and extends his hand in Kirlia’s direction. Kirlia’s health meter is at 30%, according to the score board. Maybe Kirlia can still battle, but Kyungsoo isn’t willing to take risks. “And I know how it feels, seeing your Pokemon get beaten up like that."

Baekhyun snorts. Kyungsoo wonders if it isn't rude to splash hot – or warm now; it doesn't leave the same prickling sensation on his skin anymore – water on Baekhyun's face in the middle of a gym battle. In front of a gym leader recognized as one of the best water trainers in the world, even. He can make out the little jumps Joonmyun's shoulders make, the subtle jerk of his body as Baekhyun's faint snorts fade into a lovely peal of laughter. The shaking of Joonmyun's head as Politoed finally returns to its Pokeball. The way Joonmyun looks over his shoulder as he slots Politoed's Pokeball in the scanner – maybe to get his Pokemon healed – like he's telling Kyungsoo, go ahead, do what you want to do while I'm not looking. I'd kick him in the ass, too, if I were in your shoes. I know how it feels.

But Kyungsoo doesn't. Instead, he only shoots Baekhyun a sharp look then fixes his gaze back on Kirlia. "Do you still want to battle? Or do you want to rest?" he asks, crouching low so he can stroke Kirlia's hair. He stands on tiptoes when he feels the water rise, the cool sensation he'd felt at the start of the battle making a return and wrapping around his ankles again. "I can ask for your help later if you're itching to battle."

Kirlia looks up through the narrow slits of its bangs and offers Kyungsoo a small smile. Nuzzles Kyungsoo's palm, as well, as it leans against it. Kirlia's face is burning hot. This is the aftermath of the first battle, Kyungsoo muses. This is what happens when you don't think your actions through and make full use of the field despite knowing how it might affect your Pokemon, as well.

He bites the inside of his cheek. He should've had foresight, should've known better. It's not as if this is the first time it has happened to Kirlia; that was when it was still a Ralts and it battled against Baekhyun's Numel on the sand, when Numel let out a loud cry as it used its Overheat attack on the ground and made it nigh impossible for Ralts to move.

So use Teleport, Kyungsoo had told Kirlia then. Seungsoo is right; he should never make Kirlia forget that move. It has saved his ass and Kirlia's for too many times already. It can be useless outside situations like those, but with the kind of world they're living in right now, one plagued with disasters and chaos, it's always good to be prepared to take the first flight out of danger if needed.

"You're taking a break. No but's," Kyungsoo tells Kirlia. Kirlia pokes his face with its tiny hands. Maybe Kirlia is even punching him, but it doesn't hurt. At most, it leaves a light burn on his skin, traces of the battle Kirlia has just won for him. "Let the others play. Just cheer them on from the sidelines," he adds. He looks over his shoulder, at where Baekhyun is, and takes a deep breath. "Go to Baekhyun and sit with him. The poor kid needs company. Then cheer on your friends while they battle, okay?"

He catches the sound of Joonmyun's laughter close by. "Anyone who has seen you grow will never get used to the way you talk to your Pokemon," Joonmyun comments, shaking his head in accord. He has one hand wrapped around a Pokeball already; the other, he keeps on his waist. Kyungsoo watches a drop of water cascade down Joonmyun's torso for a moment until he feels his body give a tiny jerk, give him a kick in the ass. "You have to be the gentlest trainer I've ever met."

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek, then drops his gaze to Kirlia as he helps his Pokemon get back on its feet. Kirlia disappears in a blink of an eye, resurfacing the very next second beside Baekhyun and dangling its legs from where it's sitting beside the other trainer. "Pokemon are precious creatures. They must be treated with utmost love and care."

"Unlike humans?" Joonmyun teases.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes as he stands from where he's been crouched for a while now. He can feel his muscles burning when he stretches out his legs, when he stands on the balls of his feet and then flat on his soles again in an effort to restore the feeling in his feet. He seethes. "Unlike humans, yes," he doesn't forget to respond, then reaches for a Pokeball from the tray to his left. "Humans are capable of taking care of themselves."

"It's okay to ask for help from time to time," Joonmyun says, winking. "If we can trust Pokemon to help us then why can't we trust our fellow humans to make our lives easier, right?"

Because humans can _and will_ hurt you, unlike Pokemon who will only ever attack when provoked, Kyungsoo wants to say. Because only few humans meet certain expectations, and because expecting things from humans only leads to disappointment. Because unlike Pokemon, humans are so damn complicated that it will take more than yummy food or proper training or having them healed at a Pokemon Center regularly to win them over. Kyungsoo says none of those, though, simply shrugs and mumbles, "Humans are weird," and goes back to his position.

Focus, he tells himself again and again. He has to focus on earning this badge. He was able to push all thoughts and memories related to Baekhyun to the very back of his mind and keep them there for ten long years; why can't he hold out a little longer and do the same now?

"Very," is Joonmyun's soft reply. When Kyungsoo turns around, Pokeball in hand and ready to battle, to face Joonmyun, he finds a corner of Joonmyun's mouth pulled up in a smile and his eyebrows furrowed a little in a challenge. "So, let's just let our Pokemon do the talking?"

"Let's," Kyungsoo answers. He nods. Without another word, he tosses the Pokeball in the air and holds his breath as Joonmyun calls out his second Pokemon.

Joonmyun's next battler is a Lombre. Kyungsoo's first thought is, why isn't it a Ludicolo yet? Surely, Joonmyun has access to a Water Stone to evolve his Pokemon, right? His second thought is, maybe this is a gimmick. The rain is still up and the running water has cooled again. Joonmyun's probably going for some weird, unheard of technique again to try to bypass Kyungsoo's strategies. They've already battled each other before, after all, years ago back in Sinyuk-ri. Kyungsoo believes he was still a shitty player then, but better than most of the aspiring trainers in their island. He almost defeated Joonmyun in a very tight battle where Joonmyun won because his Lotad outsped Kyungsoo's Ralts. It didn't make sense that time – Lotad was a slow Pokemon, after all – and until now, Kyungsoo can't figure out that single variable that made Lotad move before his Ralts did.

What are Lombre's abilities, he asks himself. He's encountered some Lombre that can never be confused thanks to Own Tempo, and some that can heal themselves in the rain because of the Rain Dish ability. "Not those," he mutters under his breath, furrowing his eyebrows in a tight knot. Lombre stretches out on the opposite side of the field. It's wearing a necklace of sorts, the pendant being a small, purple stone that glows brightly against Lombre's dark green skin. _What?_

"Pelipper, be careful," he tells his Pokemon. He runs his fingers through Pelipper's feathers. "You're both water-types and you... technically have an advantage over Lombre but the stone's bothering me," he adds. Pelipper gives him a nod in response, then brushes its beak against Kyungsoo's cheek. It's almost as if Pelipper's telling him to relax, trust Pelipper's Pokemon instincts. _I know my strengths and limitations more than anyone else so relax, master, or I'll bite your head off._

"Not nice. Don't do that," Kyungsoo groans when Pelipper bumps its big beak against Kyungsoo's head. The Pokemon lets out a faint cry in response, but saunters forward as it flaps its wings and prepares for battle. "Okay. Scout for the move it will use, first, and then–"

"Lombre, use Fake Out, now!" Joonmyun calls out, pointing a finger in Pelipper's direction. "Make sure to hit as hard as possible!"

Lombre nods, and the most maniacal grin breaks across its features. Kyungsoo shivers, tells Pelipper to dodge, fly further up, but too late – Lombre's wicked fast and almost impossible to see as it glides through the pool, moving in the rain as if it's dancing with the droplets, partying with them instead of battling the Pokemon on the other side of the field. Lombre slaps Pelipper's face with both of its hands and Pelipper stutters back, falling down to the pool in a big and heavy splash. It tries to move its wings, tries hard to flap them, but to no avail. Its health still sits at a good 95% but that Fake Out from Lombre made Pelipper flinch, stunned Pelipper to the point that it can't move.

Kyungsoo cracks his knuckles. Lombre can only use that once, though, at the start of the battle. At least Pelipper won't have to worry about flinches anymore. That's one problem off the list; Lombre being the fastest thing Kyungsoo has ever seen in the rain still has to be the biggest–

 _The rain._ Kyungsoo's lips fall open into a small 'o'. He nods. _Right,_ Swift Swim makes it possible for Pokemon to move faster while the rain is up. How could he forget? "Shake that off, Pelipper! Use Air Slash while your wings are still underwater!" he orders. "Keep your feathers pressed together so you can scoop more water as you go!"

Kyungsoo can't see Joonmyun's face that much, not with the water balloons Pelipper is aiming in Lombre's direction rippling the scene before him and messing up with his vision, but he can see Joonmyun shaking his head a little, can see him crossing his arms over his chest then resting both hands on his waist as if telling himself, Joonmyun, you have to take charge of this situation. You have to do something. Kyungsoo feels his insides turn, feels the slow, burning sensation crawl under his skin until he's shivering all over. He curls in his toes. He tries his hardest to clear his throat, though, to tell Pelipper, "Drop the water bombs and use Air Slash on Lombre, now!"

Pelipper lets out a loud and sharp cry in acknowledgement. Soon, boomerangs of wind hit Lombre one after another, making the Lombre stutter back in its steps and wince as it takes the attacks. The whipping sound in itself sounds like taking a hit to every part of his body, and Kyungsoo tries not to shiver with every repetition. But his senses betray him, make him feel as if his skin is being ripped from his flesh and that it _fucking hurts,_ make him want to tell Pelipper to stop because Lombre might be experiencing the same brand of pain that Kyungsoo is going through at the moment, maybe even worse. Pelipper isn't even attacking him.

"Focus!" Baekhyun calls out from behind. Kyungsoo catches the sound of clapping. Baekhyun does that with his Pokemon, when he's trying to either get their attention or snap them out of whatever trance they're in. And Kyungsoo's tempted to lash at Baekhyun and say that he's not one of Baekhyun's Pokemon, _stop talking to me like that. You don't know what's going on!_ But then Baekhyun _is_ right – he should focus on the goal for the particular match, and that is to win. The sooner he gets his badge, the sooner Baekhyun can take center stage. The sooner he wins, the sooner he can fly to Seoul and get his next League badge or maybe even help stop whatever legendary Pokemon's wrecking havoc on the city again. Staying focused gets the job done. So when Baekhyun yells, "Keep going! Don't stop!" Kyungsoo nods in response. He takes a deep, shaky breath, feeling blood rush to every part of him, the thumping in his chest growing louder and wilder.

He shifts his gaze to the damage tracker beside them. Lombre should be heavily damaged by now, if not close to fainting, but the system is telling them that Lombre is still at 60% of its full health. "That can't be right," Kyungsoo mumbles to himself. Lombre can't heal back lost health under the rain. Its ability is Swift Swim, not Rain Dish. It shouldn't be–

"Unless– _Unless–_ " Kyungsoo drops his gaze to the purple gem glowing against Lombre's chest. It looks sort of familiar. He's seen it once, maybe even twice, in the Pokemon League, in the possession of one of the best defensive trainers the world has ever seen, Ahn Chilhyun. Chilhyun had his Clefairy wear that around its neck and it would be be able to take more hits than it normally could and, at the same time, help Chilhyun inch closer to the championship trophy as Clefairy battled alongside Salamence or Garchomp, maybe even another fairy-type in the form of Gardevoir.

A chunk of the health bar breaks, Pelipper's Air Slash bringing Lombre to 50% of its health. "Eviolite," Kyungsoo says to himself. It can't be anything else; it has to be that item that boosts the defenses of Pokemon that haven't reached their final evolution yet. "Yes, definitely the Eviolite. Change of plans," he mutters. Shifting his gaze, then, he turns to Pelipper and says, "Summon big waves one last time then hit Lombre with a Toxic!"

Joonmyun leans back and furrows his eyebrows. Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek, trying to not let his excitement show, but to no avail – the corners of his mouth are already pulled up and the corners of his eyes are crinkling. Water rises from the corners as the sticky purple liquid meanders through the narrow opening and hits Lombre on the other side. No damage dealt, but with every passing minute Lombre will feel the poison wearing it down. Every attack Lombre launches on Pelipper comes at the price of inflicting damage on itself because moving around will make the poison travel through its system faster. "Cheeky move," Joonmyun comments when Lombre falls down on one knee. He's chuckling, but there's no denying the trace of worry in the way he thins his lips into a straight, straight line soon after. Lombre tries to get up, to get back on two feet, and the poison slithers all the way up, to its throat, and wraps around it like a vise.

He makes a mental note to offer Joonmyun an Antidote for Lombre after this match. He should be able to wrap this up quickly in a five minutes, maybe even less.

Lombre doesn't give up just yet, though. It gets back up, facing Pelipper with determination in the way it holds its head up high. Pelipper twirls in its place in excitement, then circles Lombre. An unusual move, Kyungsoo muses as he squints at the scene unfolding in front of him, because Pelipper's isn't the type who'd go for an attack unless its trainer asked it to. The last time it did this was during practice, when it discovered how to attack using Air Slash, and even then it started out as Pelipper just fooling around and having fun. Kyungsoo leans back as Pelipper's body glows, as the wind picks up and traps Lombre inside funnel of air. Pelipper isn't slowing down; it flies around in a loop faster than before, even as Joonmyun instructs Lombre to look up and fire an Icy Wind to the very top of the funnel.

"More power, Lombre, come on!" Joonmyun calls out.

Pelipper dodges the oncoming Icy Wind and swerves to the other side, then withdraws from the loop. It starts firing boomerangs of air onto the funnel, making it spin faster, making the whole place much, much colder than before. It's almost impossible to see Pelipper now, if not for its yellow beak. "Hurricane?" Kyungsoo mumbles, then shields his eyes from the strong gusts with his left hand. But Pelipper usually doesn't learn the move this early, not a move as powerful as this. And Hurricane has a huge probability of missing because of how uncontrollable the winds are–

"Rain. Rain, rain, _rain,_ " Kyungsoo tells himself, laughs to himself. Pelipper was able to take advantage of the rain condition and turn it into its win condition when Joonmyun had originally planned to use the rain against Kyungsoo.

Pelipper adds one last layer of wind to the funnel and then flies up high again, straight to the top of the tower of winds. "Give it all you've got!" Kyungsoo calls out after his Pokemon, and that's when Pelipper goes for the dive. It sinks right inside the funnel and crashes into Lombre in one powerful and swift move. Kyungsoo holds his breath as he watches the hurricane thin into breathing air, as he watches the winds Pelipper had summoned earlier make the waters ripple for one last time before dissipating. He watches as Lombre falls on its back, into the water. And he watches as the poison slowly lifts and as the score board proclaims Pelipper as the winner of the match.

Joonmyun's side of the screen dims, and Joonmyun's shoulders fall forward. He lets out a long and sigh. "Ah, what a match."

Kyungsoo takes a sharp, deep breath when he hears the buzzer sound off. He rushes to where he'd placed his bag earlier, then, pulling out a bottle of Antidote from the side pocket and running to the center of the field soon after. "Sorry for doing that," he tells Joonmyun as he uncaps the bottle, as he tries to steady his hands in an attempt to make Lombre drink the medicine at once. "I hate going for status ailments to help me win matches but with your Lombre's great defenses, I couldn't think of another way to break–"

"Relax," Joonmyun whispers, then reaches out to ruffle Kyungsoo's hair. Slowly, he pries the bottle from Kyungsoo's grasp, then takes Lombre in his arms. "It's pretty easy to see the kind of trainer that you are. Rare are the times when I encounter trainers who are just as concerned about their opponents' Pokemon as the original trainer is," he reasons out. Kyungsoo only nods in response, still kneeling on the rocky floor of the pool. It isn't comfortable by any means and water sticks to the hem of his shorts, but Kyungsoo stays there nonetheless, doesn't get back to his feet until Lombre starts coughing and moves its arms around. "You'd make a great breeder, you know, just like someone I know. Pokemon just love being around him because they know they're safe around him."

Pelipper just knocked out Joonmyun's Lombre and yet Joonmyun is still saying that Kyungsoo makes Pokemon feel safe in its presence. It's a nice and funny contrast. Kyungsoo tries not to laugh. "I just defeated two of your Pokemon and yet you tell me–" he begins, but Joonmyun doesn't let him continue. Joonmyun grips him by the arm, tight enough that Kyungsoo feels Joonmyun's nail digging into his skin.

"And my Lombre only drinks medicine when administered by two people," Joonmyun explains. "Me, and my friend who's a breeder. Just the two of us." He rubs soft lines along Lombre's neck with his thumb, then offers his Pokemon a small smile. He lifts his gaze again, meeting Kyungsoo in the eye now. He chuckles. "'Guess I should make that three people now, huh? And to think Lombre's fondest memory of you back when it was still a Lotad was when he defeated your Ralts."

"Using Astonish. I didn't see that one coming," Kyungsoo replies. He feels something nudging him in his side. When he turns to look to his right, he finds Pelipper paddling through the water, looking at him with wide eyes. And then Pelipper is opening its beak, revealing a handful of berries inside. A peace offering for having to be on the receiving end of Pelipper's attacks. He leans his head against Pelipper's side. "For the longest time, I thought I had the match in the bag, but you just had to nab that win away with such a simple strategy that I never thought you'd use."

"It wasn't simple," Joonmyun retorts. "I couldn't set up my rain in the first few turns. You kept startling Lotad with Ralts' Growl."

Kyungsoo laughs a little, then pulls Pelipper closer to its side. "I was just doing my job, hyung. I was just doing my job."

Lombre manages to get back on its feet after a minute, gingerly agreeing to take the Lum berry Pelipper had thrown its way earlier. "It's for your own good," Joonmyun had told his Pokemon, and only then did Lombre part its lips to receive the medication. Now, Kyungsoo’s offering Lombre some of the candy he'd made for his Pokemon a few days back just to get rid of the bad taste, and Lombre shows its appreciation by wrapping its arms around Kyungsoo's leg. "You're his new favorite. Be careful, he won't let you out of his sight so easily now," Joonmyun says as a warning. He's laughing, though, shaking his head just a little as he gives his Pokemon a soft pat on the head. "I can only imagine how much clingier he'll get once he finally agrees to evolve into a Ludicolo."

Kyungsoo stops in rummaging through his things and looks to his side. "He doesn't want to evolve?" he asks, meeting Joonmyun in the eye. Joonmyun nods, then pries Kyungsoo free from Lombre's grasp. "Did he evolve into Lombre after the war?"

"During the war, actually," Joonmyun explains. He sets his Pokemon back down on dry land, then recalls Lombre back to its Pokeball. Pushes it down on its slot to make sure that it's safe and securely in place, so that Lombre won't have to worry about having to take an an attack anymore. It won't have to worry about winning the battle and pushing the match up to a deciding third battle. "He evolved trying to protect me from an attack. There was a flock of Fearow headed my way and I told him to stay inside the ball, but–" Joonmyun laughs a little and leans against the pillar where the Pokeballs are. He cranes his neck, too, then gestures for Baekhyun to come closer. Probably to give him time to prepare for the match after being confined to just the sides for a long, long time, watching Kyungsoo and Joonmyun's Pokemon duke it out in a close fight. "You know how Pokemon are. They're the most stubborn critters, ever. Lotad broke out of its capsule and, well, tried to attack the flock. Evolved as soon as it took down the first two Fearows with Icy Wind. He didn't notice at first. He just kept battling."

"Pokemon are just like humans, actually," comes Baekhyun's voice from a few inches away. Kyungsoo doesn't look over his shoulder, doesn't even move, but his breath does hitch when Baekhyun slides an arm around his shoulder and pulls him close. Baekhyun is warm, too warm, even if his pants are soaked from all the splashing around that the Pokemon battling earlier had done. And his pulse is beating strongly against Kyungsoo's arm, drumming a rhythm on his skin that the thumping in his chest soon follows. "And Pokemon resemble their trainers in a lot of ways. Like what Pelipper did earlier – Kyungsoo didn't give an order but it went ahead and, well, did its own thing."

"Because Pelipper knew what I wanted him to do," Kyungsoo reasons out. He tries to dig his elbow in Baekhyun's side, but it's proving to be a chore with Baekhyun's unrelenting grip on his arm holding him in place. Keeping Kyungsoo right there, beside Baekhyun, and keeping him from pulling away. "We don't have to call out the attacks all the time."

"You've only known Pelipper for a couple of days and yet he's already as hard-hearted as you arel," Baekhyun comments, lifting his eyebrows. He sticks out his tongue. Kyungsoo balls his hands into fists and twists one in Baekhyun's damp shirt, grinding his knuckles against Baekhyun's flesh until Baekhyun's groaning in his ear. _Wrong move,_ because the next thing Kyungsoo knows a traitorous cold is wrapping around his throat, grip tightening by the second, making his heart race in his chest even more. "Hard- _headed,_ I meant hard-headed! Kyungsoo, fuck–"

"Okay, okay, enough," Joonmyun says, inching closer to them. He lays warm palms on their shoulders and says, "Playtime's over, kids! Time to go back to work!"

It isn't Joonmyun's soft laughter that breaks them apart, isn't Joonmyun's laughter and gentle nudge that keeps Baekhyun in check and saves Kyungsoo. It's Joonmyun's words, the harsh reality that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun aren't here on a leisurely trip away from the ruckus in the city; they're here to fulfill a mission. So they pull away, each three inches from each other, with Baekhyun snapping his spine straight as he presents himself as the next challenger and Kyungsoo retreating to the sidelines, checking Kirlia for any bruises or wounds. "All good?" Kyungsoo asks Kirlia as he gestures for his Pokemon to sit beside him so he can examine Kirlia better. Kirlia looks up at him and presses its palms on Kyungsoo's cheeks, one of Kirlia's ways of talking to Kyungsoo and telling him everything the Pokemon wants him to know – _I know what you're thinking about and trust me, I think this whole thing sucks._

"You make it sound awful when you put it that way. We just don't have the leisure of time–"

Kirlia kicks him in his stomach then pulls his face closer, resting its head against Kyungsoo's own. That's when Kyungsoo feels it, the rush of warmth to every part of his body, the tension in his muscles lifting. Kirlia sifting through his thoughts and emotions and sitting cross-legged on the floor when it finds an entire catalogue of feelings only Baekhyun triggers. He isn't even supposed to have a slew of them.

Kyungsoo closes his eyes. Whispers, "Don't do this, Kirlia. Not– Not now." Kirlia pulls away, then, slumping back against Kyungsoo's torso and clasping its hands in front of itself. "And there's nothing to talk about," he clarifies. "There's a reason why we keep mum about things and that's because–"

"Hey, Soo!" Baekhyun begins. He waves his arms in the air when Kyungsoo doesn't respond. The sound of water crashing to the floor isn't even that loud. Everything bar the thumping in Kyungsoo's chest sounds like a whisper, though, until he gulps hard and cracks his neck. _Then_ he hears Baekhyun's loud, obnoxious voice, hears its lilts and cracks that Kyungsoo has come to memorize. It rings in his ears, urges him to lift his gaze to meet Baekhyun's own.

"You can leave if you want to. First ferry out is at five in the afternoon, I think?" Baekhyun scratches his nape, then offers him a tight-lipped smile. "Seriously, you don't have to wait for me. I know you have other things to do."

Like check back with Professor Kwon if there have been any weird events in the city, make sure that Daejeon-si's power has been restored and that the train schedules are back to normal. Like hop on Pelipper's back so he can get to Seoul in an hour or less and maybe train for another gym leader challenge tomorrow or the following day. There are a lot of reasons for him to nod, mumble a small sound of gratitude in response, to leave the gym, but– "It's okay. I'll stay."

Baekhyun widens his eyes. Cocks his head to the side and says, "Oh?", in a voice so soft he could've just been breathing. "Uh, okay? But the mission–"

"Can wait until tomorrow. And the next ferry is at ten, stupid," Kyungsoo grumbles. He digs his hands in his pockets and leans back against the wall behind him. It feels cold; the pads of his fingers, even more. "I don't have anywhere else to be," he adds after a while. "Might as well study the match. You always learn something by watching matches, after all."

"Like what?"

Self-control, Kyungsoo wants to say. Alternatively, knowing when to give up and give in. He doesn't say any of those, though, simply brushes Baekhyun off with a wave of the hand and says, "Focus on your match."

Baekhyun stares at him a little longer and nibbles on his lower lip. Kyungsoo gives into that – drops his gaze to the gentle swell of Baekhyun's lips, the mole just north of his top lip, the bright red of his skin. The way Baekhyun darts out his tongue and licks along the seam as if teasing Kyungsoo, reeling him in, asking him, are you watching, Kyungsoo? Are you watching _me?_

Baekhyun turns on his heel, gripping one Pokeball tight in his hand. "Alright, let's do this!" he screams, then tosses the Pokeball in the air at the same time that Joonmyun does. "Pikachu, go!"

Kyungsoo keeps his eyes trained on Baekhyun the entire match. He studies how Baekhyun approaches tight situations, how Baekhyun tries to find a way to get back on track despite his initial misplay where he made Pikachu attack the Lanturn, a Pokemon with the ability to absorb electric-type attacks and use the energy from the attack to power up its offenses, with a Thunder. How Baekhyun looks for a solution to Pikachu being pit against Gastrodon, a water and ground-type Pokemon that can't be touched by any of Pikachu's attacks. He memorizes the way Baekhyun's lips curl up at the corners when Pikachu successfully charges the pool with electricity, when Pikachu stuns Gastrodon temporarily and gives the next Pokemon enough time to ease itself into the situation before taking an attack from Gastrodon. "Go, Kyungsoo!" Baekhyun calls out, summoning his very own Ludicolo. The Pokemon dances in place before launching an attack, spinning on one foot and making the water around it ripple. Baekhyun doesn't look over his shoulder, doesn't address the loud and sharp snort Kyungsoo makes as soon as Ludicolo lands on two feet on the small patch of land created by Gastrodon's Earth Power attack. He does flash two thumbs up at Ludicolo, though, when Ludicolo looks his way, lunges forward when he instructs his Ludicolo to go straight for an attack, "Use Giga Drain on him, Kyungsoo! C'mon, bud, I know you can do it! I believe in you!"

Kyungsoo's breath hitches. He curls in his fingers, his toes, bites down on his bottom lip hard enough to bruise. His first thought is what the hell, he still calls his Ludicolo 'Kyungsoo'? The second, it doesn't mean anything. It shouldn't mean anything, not even after Baekhyun had told him the night before that there was a time when Baekhyun couldn't think of anything else but kissing Kyungsoo senseless in broad daylight. People do weird things sometimes, when they're scared and feel lost and are at a loss for words. And maybe that time Baekhyun thought that the best way to say what he wanted to say was by crushing their lips together and making Kyungsoo shut up because _I don't have answers to your questions, Soo. Just– Stop thinking. Don't ruin it. Just give in._

Don't ruin it, Kyungsoo tells himself now. He cracks his neck, shakes off those memories of the past, both immediate and distant, and fixes his eyes on the sight of Ludicolo attacking Gastrodon with a Giga Drain. Watches Ludicolo score the second victory Baekhyun needed so desperately after Marshtomp fell prey to the surprise Grass Knot attack from Joonmyun's Palpitoad. Snorts when Baekhyun wraps his arms around Ludicolo and Ludicolo spins him around, dancing on the same pool that they'd used earlier as a battle field.

Gulps hard as Baekhyun runs his thumb along the badge Joonmyun has just awarded and brings it close to his lips to kiss it. And holds his breath where his chest feels the fullest, left and center, as Baekhyun turns around and holds the badge out in Kyungsoo's direction, grinning from ear to ear.

Kirlia chuckles, then bumps its head against its Pokeball on Kyungsoo's belt. Kyungsoo clamps his hands down on his thighs a bit too hard, and soon his nails leave tiny red crescents on his skin. Kirlia's Pokeball gives a tiny shake at the same time that Kyungsoo lets out a long exhale, as he gives in to the violent upward tug at the corners of his cheeks and offers Baekhyun a smile.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself, at himself. Like trainer, like Pokemon, indeed.

→

They don't take the ferry back to Tokkon-ni. They don't return to Tokkon-ni at all. Instead, they fly to the city of Pyeongtaek as per Professor Kwon's request. "Look for the red lighthouse. You can't miss it. And it's nothing urgent; I just have something for the two of you to pick up from the Center. _Use it well._ " So Kyungsoo hops onto Pelipper's back as soon as the doors of the Pokemon Center shut behind them, and Baekhyun grips Swellow so tight his knuckles turn white. It's almost hilarious. They haven't even taken flight yet. When they do, however, Baekhyun lets out the shrillest shriek ever. And then the whistling winds drown out all the other sounds around them, even that of the loud thumping in Kyungsoo's chest when Baekhyun turns to look his way to mouth, 'save me!'

"Save yourself," Kyungsoo mumbles. Baekhyun makes crying faces a few feet away. No sane person would do that when he's too many feet off the ground. Baekhyun is _crazy._ And Kyungsoo's even crazier for even trying to make sense of things, for responding even with the whipping winds breaking down the syllables of their speech until they dissipate. For even thinking of these things while he's cruising in the air to get from a far-away island to find their harbor.

"Slow down," he whispers to Pelipper. To Baekhyun, he says, "Don't barf up here. That's gross. Don't go too fast."

"Hold my hand?" Baekhyun calls out. It takes a few seconds for Kyungsoo to be able to piece the syllables back together. The wind makes Baekhyun scrunch his face, makes him wear the most ridiculous expression ever. It kind of looks good on him. Kyungsoo will never admit it. "Please?"

"That won't make things better."

"It will!" Baekhyun coughs. "You'll make me want to stop crying!"

"I'm not doing it," Kyungsoo argues. "We might even fall off if I do that."

"We'll only fall if one tugs too hard," Baekhyun replies. Slowly, he unwraps one of his arms from where he has it around Swellow's neck and extends it in Kyungsoo's direction. Pelipper senses it, moves closer to where Baekhyun is and gives Kyungsoo a little nudge by tilting its head back. _Traitor._ "C'mon, help a friend out. We're a team, right?"

Pelipper tilts its head back again, with more force this time around that it leaves a dull ache on Kyungsoo's forehead. He's tempted to pluck one of Pelipper's feathers just to get even, but his hands feel like they've already frozen over and his fingers almost feel like they'll fall off anytime. Baekhyun tries again, shaking his outstretched hand and– _Why the hell not?_ Pelipper has already caught up with Swellow and Swellow's adjusting to Pelipper's flight speed, trying to reach a compromise. Baekhyun's almost always warm. And Kyungsoo needs to thaw out.

"Don't pull too hard," he says as a warning, then reaches out to meet Baekhyun's hand. Only the pads of their fingers touch at first, but soon Baekhyun's slipping his fingers between Kyungsoo's own in a snug fit. And Baekhyun isn't warm, not this time around, but the tight press of their palms against each other sort of breathes a bit of warmth into Kyungsoo, kicks his senses back into life.

And then everything begins to catch up with him – Baekhyun's thundering pulse against his skin, the faint blush on Baekhyun's cheeks. The memory of the first and only time when Baekhyun took his hand like this and kissed the back of his hand before saying, "I'd... stay, y'know, if anyone ever asked. I really would. Or at least I'd think twice about leaving so Kyungsoo– Kyungsoo, I–"

Baekhyun gives his hand a light squeeze. "Stay with me," Baekhyun mouths at him. Baekhyun holds his gaze for the longest time before repeating, this time more slowly, "Stay with _me._ "

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and nods, squeezes right back and holds onto Baekhyun's hand for a touch of life. Then he shifts his gaze back to the road ahead, searching the scenery too many feet below for any sign of a red lighthouse, a beacon of light. Another one of those cities they have to call 'home'.

→

Pyeongtaek-si would pass as a mirror image of the Tokchok Islands if Kyungsoo squinted hard enough. They both used to be army bases during the war, except the islands seemed to have fought back instead of surrendered to the aftershocks of the war. Everywhere Kyungsoo looks, there's still a reminder of the chaos that was – rusty airplanes left and right, most of them already deemed as an icon of the city, buildings decorated with black patches from either smoke or explosions. Only a handful of people strolling down the streets, most of them not carrying Pokeballs in their belts or even journeying from one place to another with Pokemon. In the ten minutes that they've spent walking from the port to the Pokemon Center, they've only bumped into ten people, maybe even less. Baekhyun makes it easy to lose track of things that Kyungsoo can count with his hands with his endless chatter, after all.

Kyungsoo locks his arms in front of him and stretches out before leaning back against his seat. Baekhyun joins him soon after, bringing with him a tray with snacks –  
dried fish, kim, and some kimchi – two cups of hot tea and an equally warm smile. Kyungsoo moves to the side, then, making space for his companion, but as soon as Baekhyun has put the tray down on the table in front of them, Baekhyun pulls him closer by the hem of his shirt.

"Professor said the Dex upgrade will take two hours or something," Baekhyun mumbles. He leans his head on Kyungsoo's own and looks up at Kyungsoo through the narrow slits of his bangs. "I'm bored."

Kyungsoo leans back a little, trying to put some distance between them. Baekhyun is unrelenting, though, simply inches closer until Kyungsoo's nose is buried in Baekhyun's hair. It stinks. They've just come from a long trip and Baekhyun is sweaty as hell and it's _impossible_ for him to smell like strawberries and kiwi. Kyungsoo feels his insides turn. "Bored?"

"Mhmm." Baekhyun nods. He dances his fingers over to where Kyungsoo has his hand on his own thigh, then fits his fingers between Kyungsoo's own. _Sticky and gross._ And Baekhyun doesn't smell like fresh fruits after a long and tiring day. " _Bored._ "

Kyungsoo gulps hard and looks the other way. He doesn’t pull away, though, fingers relaxing when Baekhyun hovers with his palm before locking their hands in a tight fit. Part of him wants to convince himself that he doesn’t want this, but every inch of him, every voice at the back of his mind’s laughing at him and telling him, _no,_ don’t even think about it. _Don’t even deny yourself this._

The last time Baekhyun complained to Kyungsoo about having to wait for _something_ was when they were nine. It was Valentine's Day then, and Baekhyun was waiting for Joonmyun's class to end, for Joonmyun to come out of class so he can 'pass a box of Pepero to Joonmyun' from an 'anonymous source'. It was silly; Sinyuk-ri was small and everybody knew that Baekhyun was Joonmyun's biggest fan, if the way he talked about Joonmyun being the most promising trainer the island has ever seen was any indicator of that. So it would make sense for Kyungsoo to leave Baekhyun to rot where he's sitting cross-legged on the grass, rehearsing his lines for when he bumped into Joonmyun when the students started leaving the premises. It made sense for Kyungsoo to walk away.

But he was the best friend. And rule number sixty-seven in the Best Friend Contract stated that they had to stick with each other despite their many bad decisions.

So he stayed against his better judgment and told himself, again and again, that Baekhyun might have been holding his hand the whole time they were waiting but the Pepero would never be for him. Baekhyun might have mentioned more than once within the span of ten minutes that he liked the way Kyungsoo's hand fit in his, but at the end of the day it was Joonmyun whom Baehyun was waiting and rehearsing his spiel for. It wasn't as if Kyungsoo wanted to receive Pepero from Baekhyun, though – Baekhyun already gave him enough trouble, as it is. A box of treats was only going to make things worse.

 _This_ – the link of their hands, Baekhyun humming in his ear and telling him about how great it would probably be if they could go out and play with their Pokemon if it hadn't started raining ten minutes ago, their bodies aligning – is Baekhyun thrusting a box of Pepero in his chest. This is Baekhyun finally looking the other way and whispering to himself, oh, there you are. I've been looking for you forever. And it's making Kyungsoo's stomach lurch, making him curl his toes and making his throat feel so tight and dry. _This_ is the trouble he's been avoiding for the longest time, during those ten long years that he hasn't seen or tried to get in touch with Baekhyun.

It's the same reason why he hadn't run after Baekhyun the say Baekhyun left the island, the very reason why he just stayed rooted in his spot and called out Baekhyun's name until he started choking on his own words, his own voice.

Kyungsoo gulps hard now, feeling the warmth and weight on his shoulder. Baekhyun _could_ lean in even more if he wants to, could brush his lips against the underside of Kyungsoo’s jaw if he so decides, but _no_ – Baekhyun just stays there, breathing heavy and loud in the fit of their bodies. And he’s giving Kyungsoo a choice – to stay, to inch away, to leave and pull the covers over himself on another bed. To make him stop. But it’s not as if Kyungsoo has the heart to. He laughs to himself, shakes his head at himself. The most he can do is to keep his gaze on the scenery in front of them, on his feet, on the mud on the ground. He can’t just brush Baekhyun off.

“This okay?” Baekhyun asks, voice soft, almost like a whisper. Kyungsoo looks to his side, breathes out when he sees the gentle, uncertain smile on Baekhyun’s lips. “If not, just–"

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath. Drops his gaze from being locked onto Baekhyun’s own and guides it down to Baekhyun’s lips, curled up at the corners, waiting, wanting. It _would_ be so easy to just close his eyes and lean in, to just tilt his head a little until he can meet Baekhyun’s lips in a kiss. It would be easy to throw the towel and just give in because he _knows_ he wants this. He can feel it in the way a sizzle of heat rolls down his abdomen, in the way he curls in his toes at every hot breath Baekhyun blows against his skin without meaning to. He can feel it in the heavy thumping in his chest, in the thundering pulse on his palms, the back of his knees and elbows and ears, all of which Baekhyun isn't touching. And at the back of his mind if the characters for 'mission' weren't written in big and bold strokes then he'd give in now and then worry about the consequences of his feeble resolve later.

He shivers – not at the prickling sensation Baekhyun leaves on his skin with those little bubbles of hot breath, but at the thought of not knowing what might happen if he does give in. Uncertainty makes him feel so restless, listless. It makes him want to grab the first piece of paper he can scribble on and write down all the possible scenarios that he might encounter if he does end up kissing back – the fulfillment of the mission gets delayed, he gets stuck with two badges for a long time. Someone else finds the Reveal Glass before they do and, consequently, he puts the whole world in danger. Arceus comes down from the heavens and teaches everyone a lesson. Peace is restored. Everybody's happy. It all work s out in the very end.

In tiny, tiny text, he notes down with messy handwriting, his feelings go out of control, so much so that he won't know how to function without Baekhyun's warm presence stuck to his side like a fucking Shellder to a Slowbro. And he hates not being in control, not knowing what to do. He hates it with every fiber of his being that his body jerks at the very thought, that he almost, only almost, pushes Baekhyun away as soon as the thought crosses his mind.

"Whoa there. _Easy,_ " Baekhyun blurts out. He has his hands wrapped around Kyungsoo's own, where Kyungsoo has his hands on Baekhyun's chest, poised to put a good amount of distance between them. Baekhyun tries to smile, but the quiver of his lips gives him away. “I wasn’t doing _anything,_ okay? I asked if– I asked if you were okay with _this_ and you didn’t pull away so– Ugh, why did I even think–" He scoffs, laughs at himself. Smacks himself in the temples just like before, when he was still eight and he found out that Joonmyun was actually trying to woo Sunyoung, only with more force. He doesn't wince at the pain, though, almost as if he's gotten used to it. Almost as if he's become numb to everything life has slapped him with in the face.

"Yeah. Mission. Sorry. I, uh–" Baekhyun moves away, snapping up straight and reaching for the cups on the tray. Kyungsoo stares at the six long inches of empty space between them. He feels oddly bereft. "I got us some tea and food!" Baekhyun turns to Kyungsoo with a big smile, then, but from where Kyungsoo is it looks as if the grin is ripping through the corners of Baekhyun's mouth. Kyungsoo just wants to press Baekhyun's lips together, make him shut up. Make him stop. And maybe hold his hand and not explain why the link of their fingers feels so right. "Dibs on the dried fish. I missed those. Remember when we'd hang the fish Baekbeom-hyung had just caught and I'd make a mess of the lines and you'd be all, 'ah, Baekhyun, you ass, line 'em up properly–'"

"I'm sorry," Kyungsoo mumbles. He takes a handful of the dried fish and stuffs it in Baekhyun's mouth without preamble. Baekhyun lets out a muffled sound in response, but Kyungsoo says nothing more. Doesn't even explain why he stares at Baekhyun a little longer than he should or why he keeps his right hand glued to Baekhyun's chest, hanging off of Baekhyun' collarbone by the pads of his fingers, where he can feel a hint of Baekhyun’s heartbeat against the base of his palm.

"Is that good?" Kyungsoo asks after a while. Baekhyun has only begun chewing. He nods, nonetheless. "Alright. I'll take a few... pieces, if that's okay with you?"

Baekhyun looks at him for a while, just looks at him, with his head tilted to the side and eyebrows lifted in a light, light raise. A corner of his lips is quirked up while the other sits dangerously still, sort of like he's still deciding what to say, how to feel. Like he's thinking if he should fight back and stuff Kyungsoo's mouth with dried fish, as well. He doesn't, though. Instead, he just nods then resumes in his chewing, sipping his tea with a loud slurp.

It takes a few more minutes for the tension to lift, for Baekhyun to shift in his position and look at Kyungsoo again. Slowly, Baekhyun reaches out, stopping only when his thumb finds a comfortable fit on a corner of Kyungsoo's lips. He wipes something off – Kyungsoo's sure he doesn't have any crumbs on his lips; he's never been a messy eater – then draws his thumb close to his own lips. Keeps his gaze locked onto Kyungsoo as he gives his thumb a gentle suck almost as if saying, c'mon, you can't deny me this. So Kyungsoo doesn't, just sits there with his breath held in the hollow cavity in his chest, curls his fingers in and tightens it until he can feel his nails dig into his own skin. Breathes out when Baekhyun drops his hand to his own thigh and doesn't do a thing, doesn't even inch closer to rub lazy circles on the material of Kyungsoo's shorts. They stay like that, watching each other in companionable silence, and Kyungsoo curls up at the very back of his mind along with the same string of words that have been knocking at the back of his teeth for the longest time – why, why, _why not?_

→

The road to Suwon-si is fairly straightforward, rid of the uphill paths and mountains that Kyungsoo has gotten used to in his journey to the north. The tiny streams break the straight path from time to time, making him zigzag through the course, but he doesn't have a choice – this is the fastest way to get to Seoul. It's good training, as well. He's heard a couple of things about Suwon-si on the road. Some say it's a 'preview' of Seoul, the national capital. Some say it's still stuck between the old and the new. And then there are some who feel so trapped inside the stone walls and the thick borders of electronic security all around them. Kyungsoo isn't surprised – Suwon-si is one of the cities that suffered the most from the war, after all. Sitting between the sea and the capital, it acted as that thin barrier between chaos and safety, shielded Seoul from the brunt of the violence. And with the Samsung headquarters residing in the city, Samsung swore to protect Suwon-si from future attacks at the cost of maybe robbing its residents of a bit of freedom. Leisure in exchange for security. It's a fair trade.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Suwon-si's lucky to have such a big company watching over it, making sure its residents have ways and means to fight back if they were ever attacked again. Pyeongtaek-si and the Tokchok Islands didn't have that, didn't have anything or anyone to hold on to once the war had subsided. It was the residents who had neither the expertise nor the knowledge to reconstruct the city who had to put everything back together. Sure, they received some help from the government, but it was never enough.

He kicks a pebble as he inches closer to the city. It's difficult to expect help from others. Might as well take matters into your own hands, right?

He takes a step back when he's met with a huge arc, the characters for 'Welcome to Suwon-si' scrawled on it in big, bold writing. He marvels at the structure looking down on him and laughs a little. The people weren't kidding when they said it was big and imposing, maybe even daunting. And it feels so different from the other cities he's been to. "Bet you'd want to have a picture taken with this," Kyungsoo says, then, laughing as he looks over his shoulder, but finds no one following him. And then it hits him – Baekhyun waving over his shoulder and taking a different path when they reached an intersection two hours ago, saying he'll check out Ansan-si and try to catch more Pokemon, train his Pokemon to get stronger.

"Give you space or something of that sort," Baekhyun had said. He summoned his biggest, brightest smile. Kyungsoo gulped hard. "You'd like that, right?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath now and digs his hands in his pockets. One of the Pokeballs clipped to his belt a tiny shake. It's probably Kirlia. "Okay, then," he whispers to himself, then takes a step forward. He shivers a little when he sees the shadow slowly catching up with him, when the sounds of the city begin to take over his senses and pull him further inside. "Here we go."

Suwon-si isn't as crowded as Kyungsoo thought it would be. There are a few groups of people here and there and roads are as packed as ever, but for the most part he doesn't have to fight his way through thick volumes of people just to get to the other side of the street unlike what he'd experienced in Mokpo-si. Or maybe he's just been to a lot of cities already that he’s already come to ease himself into the concept of living amongst a large group of people. That might be case. Two badges in and he's certain he's experienced more in a week than he has in the twenty years he's lived in Sinyuk-ri. Back then, his world was just a little island and his life was defined by a routine – wake up, eat, go to regular school in the morning and then trainer school in the afternoon. On the days he didn’t have class, he’d only have to head out into the sea to catch fish, then return to shore and help Seungsoo sell the catch in the market before lunch. Then he'd study once he's already had his fair share of seafood. Train until five in the afternoon, then retreat to his house to eat and then do whatever comes to mind until he falls asleep. Rinse and repeat until the sun rises again.

During his first ten years in Sinyuk-ri, he'd spent evenings outside, running along the shore and trying to outlast Baekhyun and Sunyoung in a game of chase. Sunyoung would give up because, "You two are so competitive! Whatever, play your childish game. I'll just watch you two do stupid things." Baekhyun would taunt Kyungsoo until Kyungsoo fell for the trap and chased Baekhyun 'til the end of the shoreline. And then they'd lie on the sand, toes touching as the water rushed to shore.

He shakes his head. When he looks to his right, he finds the Pokemon Center and heads straight for it. He should drop by the Mart after getting his Pokemon healed just so he can stock up on Pokeballs and medicine again. After that, he should be getting back on the road and making his way to Seoul. And that's exactly what he will he do, he tells himself, drills in his mind until all that he can hear at the back of his mind is the sound of his own voice chanting the mantra under his breath – focus, focus, _focus._

He deposits his Pokemon with Nurse Jinri and waits at the lobby, going through the Pokemon listing in his Dex as he waits. After the upgrade, the old count went from just 400 Pokemon to a whooping 718 discovered Pokemon species all over the world. Almost twice as much as the number professors in all parts of the world recognized before. "They just keep evolving with the world, don't they?" comes a familiar voice nearby, and Kyungsoo sits up and looks at either side of him in response. There's still a plant on his right, the same plant one can find in every single Pokemon Center in the country, but on his left now is a familiar face with something unfamiliar he can't place.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times and leans back. "You cut your hair?" he asks, making chopping motions just above his shoulders. He furrows his eyebrows. "And weren't you supposed to be in Seoul already?"

"Well, I would have been if the roads weren't blocked," Soojung mumbles. She settles beside Kyungsoo and locks her arms in front of her, stretching. "There was a huge power outage a few hours ago so the officials didn't want to let anyone in or out of the city. Said it was for security purposes because, y'know, what's Seoul without electricity?"

Kyungsoo laughs a little and looks at Soojung a little longer. She looks different with the short hair, but not any less beautiful. She looks even fiercer than before, if that's even possible, but the dark circles under her eyes soften the hard angles of her cheeks. And the smile on her lips, one that isn't laced with fatigue but with a weird sense of relief, sort of lights up her features. Just a little, though, because soon she's slumping in her seat and letting out a loud exhale. "I'm actually happy about the downtime. That match against the water gym leader was tough. Shiftry did well but I couldn't just... use Shiftry all the time, right? "

"You got there before us," Kyungsoo comments before shifting in his seat. He folds one leg and sits on it, then turns to his left so that he's facing Soojung and can see her better. From this angle, he can make out the tiny red dots on Soojung's cheeks, the scars on her left cheek, the cut across her eyebrow. "You got that from battle?" he asks, then, gesturing at the scar, and adds, "How did the match go, by the way?"

Soojung raises an eyebrow at him, almost as if saying, are you really making me narrate how the match unfolded? You, Do Kyungsoo, the same guy who wouldn't even listen to his brother complain about how hot the sand was in Jeju-do at the height of summer, asking me about a little match that shouldn't be of interest to you? She says none of those, though, but it does take her a while to resurface. She licks her lips, parts them as she prepares to regale Kyungsoo with the tale, but asks, "Where's Baekhyun? Aren't you two supposed to be... journeying together or something? Last I heard from the professor, you two were together."

Kyungsoo snorts, scoffs. Contemplates dropping his gaze to the jut of the bones of his knees instead of holding Soojung's careful and scrutinizing gaze, but he doesn't. Instead, he keeps his eyes there, locked onto Soojung's own, and gives her a simple answer – "Ansan-si. Said he wanted to catch a couple more Pokemon and train his team. I think he's set a daily quota for himself or something."

Soojung raises an eyebrow at him, lips pressed together in a thin line but tugged up in a weird smile at the corners. This is her 'I'm trying to tell you something but I _really won't tell you_ ' face. And really, Kyungsoo hasn't spent as much time with her as he had with Sunyoung, but he knows Soojung well enough from that summer excursion that the Do family had for him to know to counter this. So he waits – waits for Soojung to part her lips to speak, waits for Soojung to cross her arms over her chest while she teases Kyungsoo about something or even anything. Waits for Soojung to spill and give in, to ask him that one thing that she's been wanting to ask since the day she saw them together.

"He doesn't seem the type," Soojung mumbles after a while, then leans back in her seat. She chuckles. "I mean, you'd totally be the type to set daily catching quotas and training targets for your Pokemon. You love planning things."

"I don't love making plans. I just hate not being in control," Kyungsoo argues. He pushes himself further back and throws his head back against the cushion. "Those are two different things."

"Whatever. They're the same thing," Soojung retorts. She mimics his actions then moves closer, resting her head on his shoulder. She relaxes when their bodies find a nice, snug fit. She isn't warm, Kyungsoo notes, not as warm as Baekhyun who always, always, _always_ finds a way to be a bit too close, finds a way to slot his fingers between Kyungsoo's own. She isn't as warm as Baekhyun whose touches aren't merely just. "You just hate losing that's why you won't admit I'm right. It's okay to be wrong sometimes, you know. Nobody will hate you for that."

Nobody but myself, Kyungsoo almost says. He manages to bite his tongue hard enough to flush the words down. Instead, he murmurs, "Whatever," and rests his head on Soojung's own as he waits for his Pokemon to come out of the recovery room. It won't take too long – just an hour or less, give or take. He'll be able to free himself from the chains of Soojung's blunt speech soon.

Rain comes pouring down in Suwon-si, though, and the winds blow harder than ever. Samsung doesn't quite pull up the shields around the city just yet, but in less than five minutes the once busy streets of Suwon-si are cleared from all sorts of obstructions – food carts, vehicles. People and Pokemon. Kyungsoo watches through the windows, then, fingers splayed on the glass as he squints hard and tries to get a clear image of the scene unfolding outside.

"We can head out, actually. Pretty sure your Pelipper will love the weather. It's not impossible to travel in the rain," Soojung says. She clips the last two Pokeballs to her belt then retrieves a raincoat from inside her bag. "Do you want to start walking to Seoul? If we walk fast, we can reach the border in four, five hours. Or maybe we can catch the train to Central Sta–"

"Probably not the best decision. I'd advise against it," comes Nurse Jinri's response. She looks around for an audience and Kyungsoo feels a weird, unsettling feeling drop to the pit of his stomach. Almost like a needle had been dropped inside and he can't take it out, no matter what he does. "And there's someone who wants to see you. Please join me in the office; this will be quick."

They exchange quick glances. The last time this happened was when Landorus rose from the land and summoned an earthquake to pacify both Thundurus and Tornadus. The last time it happened, they were at Iksan-si, Daejeon-si-bound but detained in the Pokemon Center and forced to watch one trainer come in after another, all with injured Pokemon cradled in their arms. It leaves a bitter taste in Kyungsoo mouth. He gulps down hard. Nonetheless, he takes a step forward, tiny steps that pick up pace when he hears the shuffle of Soojung's feet from a few feet away.

"Sometimes, I feel like we're spies or we're the KIA," Soojung whispers in his ear, groaning. It's her best attempt at making the situation lighter, but the focused look in her eyes isn't fooling anyone. He nudges her with his elbow in her side as a small token of gratitude and inches away when Soojung cocks an eyebrow at him. "We always talk about these things in hushes voices. It's not as if media hasn't been broadcasting all these disasters."

"There's a difference between acknowledging their existence and actually knowing what's going to hit you," Kyungsoo explains. He cracks his knuckles and slows down in his steps just a little, then gestures for Soojung to move ahead and duck inside the room so they can get right to business. "What you know can and will hurt you in a lot of ways–"

"Shut up," Soojung tells him, then wraps her slender fingers around his wrist. She pulls him inside; he shuts the door behind them.

Kyungsoo's eyes widen at the sight of the person right in front of him, sitting on the couch and chatting with Professor Kwon on the display they have now covered with their bodies. "Sunyoung?" he whispers, voice cracking somewhere in the middle. He blinks a few times, trying to see better. Maybe he's just imagining things. Maybe he's just having the strangest hallucination and he was actually attacked by one of the legendary genies on his way to Suwon-si but _no._ Sunyoung turns to look at him, eyes just as wide and lips parted in a small 'o'. Her hair tied up, hidden messily beneath a bonnet that makes her face look much smaller than it already is. And she has scars on her cheeks, her bare shoulders, her legs. "What–" 'What are you doing here' almost spills from his lips, but he manages to push the words back and swallow them down. He clears his throat then tries again, saying, "What happened to you?"

"Long story. It's just– It's a miracle I made it to Suwon-si, that's all I can say," she answers all in one breath. She shifts her gaze from the display to Kyungsoo and then back, and only when Professor Kwon whispers 'go' does Sunyoung stand from her seat and wrap her arms around Kyungsoo. "You have _no idea_ how glad I am to see you again. No _fucking_ idea–"

Sunyoung buries her face in the crook of Kyungsoo's shoulder. Kyungsoo freezes for a moment, feeling the years and distance he's spent away from Sunyoung weigh down on him. The last time he's held her close like this was even before the war, when she was still without all these scars on her skin and was just about to leave Sinyuk-ri to start anew with her family in Seoul. She was smaller then, much smaller, and the fit of their bodies seemed more comfortable then. There's something pulling them apart now, tearing at Kyungsoo's skin like he doesn't know how to wrap his arms around his friend anymore. Like all these years he's spent asking why everyone kept leaving the island and leaving him behind are pulling him back to the dark cave he used to frequent.

Get a grip, get over yourself, he whispers to himself. To Sunyoung, he says, "I'm... I'm glad you're here."

He goes with instinct this time, with whatever is left of muscle memory and pulls her closer. He snakes one hand up her back, rubbing slow and light circles on it before giving her arms a squeeze. "Wow, you're still tiny," he says, laughing a little, and Sunyoung lets out a small whimper in response. Jabs him in his side but doesn't pull away from the hug just yet, relishing the warm fit of their bodies in the last place Kyungsoo thought he'd see her again. "What? You haven't grown that much, I'm sure you know that."

"You never wrote back," Sunyoung mumbles. She jabs him again but this time it's heavier, like she means to etch the rest of her message on Kyungsoo's skin. "Or maybe you never got any of my letters because sometimes the postal system _sucks_ but you never tried to reach out–"

"Doesn't matter," Kyungsoo replies, doesn't say, I'm sorry for being an asshole and an awful friend. I got all the letters. I still have them in a box I left back in Mokpo-si. _I got stuck; I couldn't move on._ He pulls away with an easy smile but maintains his steady grip on Sunyoung's shoulders. "You're here now, and you're alive. And where the hell did you get these scars?"

Sunyoung laughs a little. "I tried doing theatre. Failed miserably," she groans. Kyungsoo only cocks an eyebrow at her. She twists her hand into a fist in his shirt and slaps him on the arm. Too familiar, says a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind. This looks, _feels_ too familiar, almost like going home. "Pretty sure you know how I got these. Pokemon aren't usually as violent as media makes them seem, after all. Rare are the times when they'd attack humans even without being provoked."

"Did you have an encounter with the genies, then?" Soojung asks from a few feet away. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder for a moment, risking a glance at Soojung. She's sitting on the couch now, but she's leaning forward with her hands clasped on her thighs. Her eyebrows are furrowed; her gaze, focused. "Tornadus, by any chance? Worse, both Thundurus and Tornadus? Both at the same time?"

Sunyoung laughs a little, but for the most part it sounds like a pained snort. Kyungsoo winces, shivers at the sound. She doesn't address Soojung yet. Instead, she looks at Kyungsoo and says, "Smart friend, you've got here. Very perceptive." To Soojung, she says, "I almost ran into Landorus, too. Not the best day. I'm lucky to be alive."

Soojung seethes and drops her gaze to her feet. "Sounds bad."

"Awful," Sunyoung says in agreement. She cracks her neck. "Pretty exciting, as well. On the up side, I learned a lot of things from the battle – spread attacks like Rock Slide and Hyper Voice catch them off-guard. Both Thundurus and Tornadus are deathly afraid of Landorus. They scurry back to the heavens at the first sign of it." She pauses for a while and walks over to the couch, limping a little. When Kyungsoo drops his gaze to Sunyoung's calf, he finds a huge slash across her skin. He feels his nose make an involuntary twitch. "And they can't work with each other. Their battle styles are too different. I'm positive they'll cause more damage just trying to beat each other to finding the Reveal Glass before anyone else does–"

"Wait. _They're_ looking for the Reveal Glass?" Kyungsoo asks. He moves closer to where the two girls are, joining them on the couch, then shifts his gaze to Professor Kwon's image on the screen in front of them. "But once they come in contact with it, their true form will be revealed and they'll be much weaker–"

"Also, much more powerful," Professor Kwon answers. She pauses for a moment, looking around her before leaning closer to the camera. "Being exposed to the Reveal Glass means they won't be able to live amongst humans anymore, yes, but that won't stop them from wanting to conquer the world. In the hands of the wrong person, everything can go wrong. But if we manage to get that Glass before the genies do, if we manage to find it before they can turn it over to whoever is trying to control them, then we win." She takes a deep breath, letting out a long exhale as she ends. "The whole world wins. And we'll be a step closer to maintaining world peace, I suppose."

Soojung snorts. "You're not sure, professor?"

"There are things that even I do not know, young one. I'm a _professor,_ a Pokemon doctor. I'm not a god," Professor Kwon answers, scoffing. She turns her attention to Kyungsoo, then, and asks, "Where's Baekhyun, by the way? I've been trying to get in touch with him. Why aren't the two of you–" She furrows her eyebrows, confusion washing over her features for the quickest second, and then she's back, lips drawn to a thin line and the knot of her eyebrows loosened. "I... was hoping he'd be with you. He needs to know about this discovery. We all need to be aligned on what we're working towards. We have to have a common goal."

Kyungsoo parts his lips to speak. There are a number of ways that he can answer Professor Kwon's question – Baekhyun decided it would be great if he could give me time to think and some space even if I hadn't asked for those. Baekhyun wanted to get ahead of me again, wanted to record as many Pokemon as he could and maybe even catch them if he had the chance. Baekhyun needed some time away, himself. And maybe Kyungsoo, himself, needed, wanted company coming into an entirely new city, but he knew he had to respect Baekhyun's decision as well. So he didn't stop Baekhyun, just watched him walk away the same way that he stayed rooted on his spot so many years ago just calling out Baekhyun's name instead of running after him and keeping him from moving, making him stay.

He says none of those, though. Instead, he answers, "He went to Ansan-si to do more research on Pokemon and add more to his Dex records. He said he'll be in Seoul in a day or two for the gym challenge. Soojung and I might bump into him when we go there after the storm."

Professor Kwon leans back in her seat for a moment. "All roads to Seoul are closed, though. Everyone's getting paranoid about these power outages," she says, voice dropping to a whisper. The beeping sound in the background soars above her faint voice, and she lifts her eyes in search of the sound. "I'm positive they're not caused by the genies but who would do such a– Oh, Baekhyun's on his way to Suwon-si. He's traveling fast. Does he have a flying-type with him?"

Kyungsoo's first thought is, that's a stupid thing to do. You don't send out your _flying-type Pokemon_ to transport you from one place to another in the rain, knowing that flying-types are weak to electric-type attacks. Who in his right mind would even do that? His second, thank _god._ He bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying anything that might give him away, to keep himself in check. Mumbles only a minute after, "He's got Swellow with him. I hope Swellow's not taking any damage. It's risky to fly in the rain."

A loud thud a few feet away, then he hears something rapping on the window. It dies down after a while, replaced instead by the sound of the falling rain beating down on the room, the glass, messing up with the communication lines. Then they hear shrill scraping noises that sound a lot like nails coming in contact with glass. Soojung shifts in her seat and gets back on her feet when the sound grows stronger, louder, more desperate with each passing second. Sunyoug does, too. They gather at the center, close to the display, with Nurse Jinri just beside them. The Pokemon Center is supposed to be one of the safest places in any city, if not _the_ safest. The loud pounding against glass makes the nastiest shiver wrap around Kyungsoo's throat, hammer on his chest and make his knees lock–

"The door's locked!" comes a familiar voice. More knocking, and then a hand comes to wipe the window. Soojung almost stutters back in her steps when the figure comes into focus. The tight furrow of her eyebrows eases when she recognizes the figure just beyond the window, when the image becomes clearer. "Open the door! It's fucking freezing out here!"

"I'm sorry, I'll get to it!" Nurse Jinri says. She bows to Professor Kwon, then to the rest of the group before adding, "I'll bring him in as soon as he's towelled down. He's one of your companions, right?"

Kyungsoo nods and offers her a small smile. "We're a team," he answers. He remembers that moment, stuck in flight, when Baekhyun held out his hand because he had the worst fear of heights, because he said he needed a hand to hold. _C'mon, help a friend out. We're a team, right?_ "He's part of our team."

Soojung raises an eyebrow at him for a moment. He holds his breath in, doesn't break the eye contact and stays there until Soojung's gaze wanes. It's not easy trying to win every single battle he's faced with but it's part of the test, part of being a trainer. He has to have all his shields up at all times, especially in the company of people he knows. Soojung turns on her heel after a while and slips back into her old seat, pulling back her shoulders and smiling a little when she hears her bones crack.

"Yeah, he's part of the team," Soojung comments. She massages her palm with the knuckle of her thumb. "He's the annoying one."

"Ah, I see you've met Baekhyunnie," Sunyoung says. She inches closer to Soojung and folds one leg under her weight, facing Sunyoung when she settles on her seat. "When did he start bugging you?"

"The day after I started my journey. I haven't had any peace ever since," Soojung replies. She's smiling, though, and her shoulders are giving these tiny jumps that lift the tension from her features. She gestures for Kyungsoo to sit with them, patting the empty space on her left. "Saw Kyungsoo again the same day. And then we found the genies. And then everything just got fucked up. So I guess you could say that, together, they bring bad luck."

Sunyoung snorts. Kyungsoo nudges Soojung in her side with his elbow but doesn't say anything, doesn't even make a sound because there's an ounce of truth to it – Baekhyun turned Kyungsoo's world upside-down. Where still waters once were, there are now waves too powerful that Kyungsoo cannot fight them. Where there was once a brick wall to break the tide, there's nothing but the open expanse of sand to welcome the rushing waters. And Baekhyun is the next big wave. He's a force so powerful, so disruptive that he leaves scars on everything that he touches – Kyungsoo's face, his skin, his heart.

"Ah, another reunion. You should've given me a heads up; I would've brought kimba–" Baekhyun stops halfway through his statement and stands at the door with his mouth hanging agape, the corners of his lips soon softening into a smile. "Sunyoungie? Little girl who can't even braid her hair, _in the flesh?_ "

Sunyoung looks up from where she's been applying ointment on her bruises. "You know, we were just about to leave–" she teases, lips pressed into a thin, thin line, but soon she's cackling and shaking her head, walking over to where Baekhyun is to take him into her arms. And Baekhyun meets her halfway. He picks her up and lifts her off the ground, giving her a small twirl as she buries her face in his hair. "And I've always known how to braid, you ass. Kyungsoo just does it better."

"Kyungsoo does everything better," Baekhyun replies, grinning. He cups Sunyoung's face with his hands, then, and presses his palms flat against the swell of Sunyoung's skin. "You're still so small and pocket-sized! You haven't changed a bit!"

Kyungsoo leans back in his seat and marvels at the sight unfolding in front of him. This is distance thinning into the narrowest millimeter until is dissipates. This is ten long years of being apart being thrown aside in favor of a hug, a warm embrace, a gentle squeeze of the arm and a pinch of the cheek. This is their old trio getting back together, he muses as Baekhyun turns to him, one arm extended as if saying, well, what are you waiting for? We can't do our signature hug without you. So Kyungsoo surrenders this time, pushes himself off the couch even if there's a dull ache in his calves and his inner thighs from walking for two long hours. Joins Sunyoung and Baekhyun just a few feet away even if the last thing he wants right now is to get crushed between two warm bodies. Links his arms with them even if the last thing he _needs_ right now is to be brought back to ten years ago in Sinyuk-ri when they had nothing to worry about but the high tide and the low tide and how it affects their playing schedule.

Stays there long enough for Soojung to start coughing, for Soojung to comment that, "Wow, I've got tears in my eyes," in a tone so deadpan it moves even Kyungsoo to laughter.

Baekhyun is the first to pull away, sputtering giggles as he hits Kyungsoo in the arm, slapping Kyungsoo again and again until the dull 'thud' of the contact drops beneath the bright sound of his voice. Sunyoung joins in soon after just like routine – the three of them harmonizing in the strangest way possible, all the puzzle pieces falling back into place. We still have a mission to fulfill, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says, but he shuns that away in favor of the warm presence beside him, two familiar bodies fitting themselves in Kyungsoo's small frame, _in Kyungsoo's life_ like peas to a pod.

He pushes the words threatening to spill from his lips when Baekhyun snuggles closer for a better fit, when Baekhyun presses a soft kiss to his skin as he buries his face in the crook of Kyungsoo's neck. He stays.

→

"Poser coffee in a can, right?" Baekhyun asks, flashing a tin can of coffee in Kyungsoo's direction. Kyungsoo nods in response and makes space for Baekhyun on the log he's sitting on, the only bench outside the Pokemon Center that survived the heavy downpour earlier. "Coffee at ten in the evening, man. What's _wrong_ with you?"

Baekhyun tosses the can in Kyungsoo's direction before settling down, and Kyungsoo catches it one hand with relative ease. He loses balance, though, leaning back a bit too much and almost falling off a result. He presses his hand down on the log to try to balance himself, but to no avail – he only ends up sliding off, feet lifting off the ground and his body pressed to the cool bark of the log.

And then he feels it, another stretched muscle in his side, splinters on the heel of his palm. Baekhyun's warm palm on the small of his back, and then Baekhyun's breath prickling his skin as he says, "I take it back: you need the coffee. You're hopeless."

They'd gone on scouting duty earlier, surveying the perimeter of Suwon-si partly to check if there were trainers who got stuck in the routes at the height of the storm and to make sure that nobody got hurt, and partly to see if the roads are still closed. They tried connecting with the Pokemon Center in Seoul earlier, as soon as the storm subsided, but the internet connection was just too bad and Seoul kept blocking media trying to get coverage on the power outage. "Sounds shady to me," Professor Kwon had commented then. Kyungsoo recalls all of them nodding that time. After a while, the professor added, "I don't trust the people there. Can you go around to check if there are any casualties? Check the tiny forests and the routes, see if anybody needs help. Then check back with me as soon as you can. Your PokeGears have been updated to the latest model. I trust you won't have much trouble sending data to the headquarters here in Mokpo-si anymore?"

So they paired off, Soojung and Sunyoung checking the southern half of the city and partnering with some officers in Officer Victoria's police force and Kyungsoo and Baekhyun taking care of the northern half and the roads leading to Seoul. All paths to the big city were still blocked when they went there, but Kyungsoo's certain he saw a couple of lit up places when they got close to the border. "Maybe they're using a generator?" Baekhyun said then, shrugging like he wasn't wondering why Seoul had been shut off from all other parts of the country. "But then if they have one then we'll at least be able to connect with the Center, right?"

"Maybe they don't want to be contacted," Kyungsoo replied. He dug his hands in his pockets, even as Kirlia came bursting out of its Pokeball and settled on Kyungsoo's shoulder. Kirlia's thinking the same thing, Kyungsoo just knew it back then. And he was also certain that Kirlia could sense danger where they were, toeing the line between Suwon-si and Seoul.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath now and opens the canned coffee. He presses it close to his lips, then turns to face Baekhyun. "Thanks. For saving me back there. When I slipped, I mean. Anything could've happened." He takes a quick sip of his drink and smiles as he feels the bittersweet taste take over his senses, as the flavor reaches his ears and breathes life into him. "And for the coffee. I'll just... pay you when we get back to the trainer's quarters. I left all my money in my bag."

"Nah, it's alright. It's just a tiny can of coffee. _Big deal._ "

"It's coffee." Kyungsoo's favorite, even, the only brand he'd drink off of a tin can. He didn't even mention the name earlier when Baekhyun asked if he wanted anything from the vending machine, and neither did he hint at the design on the label of the coffee. Baekhyun just knew, at the very back of his mind, that if Kyungsoo ever had to take a risk on a coffee brand then it would be 'Cantata'. It was a bit strange; also, though Kyungsoo won’t admit it, amusing. "I won't be muttering nonsense for a few more hours. You'll thank yourself in the long run."

Baekhyun snorts. He inches closer until their thighs are pressed side to side, until Kyungsoo can feel Baekhyun's warmth through the material of his shorts. Kyungsoo shivers a little. It's probably from the cool wind blowing all around them, playing tug-of-war with the temperature. It can't be anything else.

"I like it when you mumble random stuff, though," Baekhyun says after a while. He meets Kyungsoo's eyes for a second and already Kyungsoo can make out the lines of exhaustion on Baekhyun's skin, the dark circles under his eyes, fatigue pulling down at the corners of his cheeks and keeping him from offering his brightest smile. Kyungsoo squints his eyes, nonetheless – he’s always had trouble looking at things, _people_ from such a close distance, after all.

There’s a constellation of scars close to a corner of Baekhyun’s lips. Kyungsoo lifts his hand for a moment, leans in, but drops it right back on his thigh. He can’t wipe those bruises off. They’re there to stay.

And yet Baekhyun's still saying, "I think it's cute.” With his eyes, he’s saying, endearing, adorable, _I’m in love._ He clears his throat and Kyungsoo tries to latch onto that, replays the same line in his head until he hears nothing but that bright ring in Baekhyun's voice, the lilt in his tone. The way his voice drops to a whisper as the word 'cute' spills from his lips like an afterthought. “I think you’re cute."

"Not cute," Kyungsoo grumbles. He sinks his lips in his drink again even before words can spill from his lips without preamble. Kicks at the ground, as well, still damp from the storm earlier. He frowns at the mud on his shoes, but then Baekhyun has it worse – he has splatters of mud on his ankles, his calves, the back of his knees. Baekhyun moves around too much and gets himself into trouble so easily, it's almost hilarious.

"I leave at seven tomorrow, by the way," Baekhyun mentions out of the blue. He rests his back against the wall behind then and closes his eyes. "The station opens at five and I'm tempted to get to Seoul through the first train but _eh,_ too tired." He pauses for a while, twisting his torso then locking his arms in front of him. "I'd sleep in the whole day if I could, but then Professor Kwon wants us to be responsible trainers and save the world or something, so–"

"I leave at nine," Kyungsoo says, interrupting. He sets the can down on the empty space between him and Baekhyun, slots it there close to where Baekhyun has his hand on the log. "Sunyoung said she'll prepare breakfast for us before we split up for phase two of the mission. And I'm not counting on her to get up early since she has very bad sleeping habits–"

"And hates being woken up when she hasn't completed her six-hour beauty rest yet, yeah. I guess I'm staying a bit longer, then!" Baekhyun continues. He pulls his shoulders back then cracks his neck, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows Baekhyun is taking the can of coffee and bringing it close to his lips to take a sip. Or a gulp, maybe, because it takes him more than five seconds to put the can back down on the log and lick the corners of his mouth. Kyungsoo hasn't been counting. And he hasn't been watching the slow, swiping motion of Baekhyun's tongue, hasn't been thinking of ways to fight the way the action beckons to him.

"This is good," Baekhyun comments. He wiggles his eyebrows. Kyungsoo stares at the can on the log, then lifts his gaze back up to Baekhyun. "Didn't know yummy canned coffee was actually a thing. Didn't know you had _taste._ "

"Of course, I do," Kyungsoo whispers. He slaps Baekhyun's hand away when Baekhyun motions to snatch the can again. "Get your own coffee. And you're helping me pick berries tomorrow for the soup. No but's."

Baekhyun snorts. "You trust me when it comes to picking berries?"

"A lot of things," Kyungsoo says, dropping the 'I trust you' on purpose. Baekhyun will get it, anyway. They haven't spent years memorizing each other just to miss the tiny details in their actions that make the words clearer, more cohesive. Not even spending ten years apart can take that away from them. Kyungsoo has come to accept it, the truth that he will always be carrying scars on his body with Baekhyun's name scrawled on them. You don't just build ten years of your life around a person, a friendship, and walk away unscathed. It doesn't work that way. "I'm waking you up at five. We start working at 5:30 so we can get the soup done before six. The Pokemon never should be kept hungry."

"Ah, you and your love for your plans," Baekhyun singsongs. He shakes his head. "So we're sleeping on the same bed, yeah? I mean, if you want to wake me up quickly then you'll have to keep me close."

More like, if Kyungsoo wants to wake Baekhyun up quickly then he'll have to learn how to wean himself off of Baekhyun's warmth first, slip from Baekhyun's arms and put a safe distance between them before leaning back in to yank Baekhyun by the ankle. _A plan,_ he has to stick to a plan. This sounds safe and foolproof. So after a while, he says, "Yeah, whatever," keeps his eyes fixed on his feet, the mud on the toes of his shoes, the distance Baekhyun's leg crosses so he can link his ankle with Kyungsoo's own. "No, you can't do that while we're sleeping."

"So stay," Baekhyun says, a smug grin on his lips. The lighting here is dim, flickers from time to time, but Kyungsoo can still see the way the hard corners of Baekhyun's mouth soften into an easier smile. It makes his insides turn, makes him curl in his toes. Baekhyun tears his gaze from Kyungsoo after a while and stares at the darkness ahead of them, instead. There are more scars on his side of his face, Kyungsoo muses, like someone had decided to doodle on Baekhyun's skin and forgot to erase the ugly marks of the pain before leaving Baekhyun behind. It's cruel. It's the reality of life. "Stay a bit longer. We still have time."

"It's almost midnight."

"Only almost," Baekhyun argues. He pulls Kyungsoo closer. " _Stay._ "

Tomorrow, they head to Seoul and split up as soon as they reach their location. They're all working on different components of the project now – Baekhyun on completing the Dex while keeping an eye on Thundurus, Soojung on making sure Tornadus isn't about to rip through people's skin again. Sunyoung on narrowing down the possible places where the Reveal Glass might be hidden, and Kyungsoo on studying the changes in Pokemon while combating Landorus and warning the rest of the team of any possible attacks. The only way they'll be able to keep in touch is through the PokeGear, but sometimes that isn't enough. Sometimes you'll yearn for a touch less impersonal than that of a random trainer's, or warmth in the form of a familiar body pressed close to your side. Sometimes you'll need something to hold on to, a thin cord linking you with a place you call home. Sometimes, Kyungsoo feels the desire to not be alone, feels the need to walk down a muddy path with someone whom he knows will aid him in winning a battle should a horde of Pokemon or trainers launch an attack on him. And more often than not, that person is Baekhyun.

He snorts, laughs at himself. He tries to pull away but Baekhyun keeps him firmly in place and groans, "Stop moving."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and examines the link of their ankles. It's an awkward fit, what with the mud on their shoes, but he feels no strain on his muscles, feels nothing but the warmth of Baekhyun's skin spilling over to his. A sizzle of heat crawls up his legs, wraps around his knees and soon he feels them weaken. He shakes, leans to his side, sinks his head on Baekhyun's shoulder when he feels a warm palm curl on his nape. _Submits._ "You're not giving me a choice, are you?" he mumbles, burying his face in the material of Baekhyun's shirt, and says no more when Baekhyun runs his fingers through Kyungsoo's hair in response.

Later, when they get back to the trainer's quarters, Kyungsoo shuffles to the far end of the bed to make room for Baekhyun. Baekhyun's still freshening up and Kyungsoo is _certain_ it will take Baekhyun at least thirty more minutes before he gets back, so he pulls the blanket up to his shoulders, neck, chin, further north until he can hide the small smile on his lips behind the sheet. Prays to whatever god for Baekhyun to keep his word and sleep right beside him with the promise of still being there the morning after. They're old enough to know that running away won't get them anywhere, but fear makes you do stupid things sometimes. It's only a matter of time until Baekhyun slips back into old habit, fears people getting too close and comfortable again.

Baekhyun will always be Baekhyun. Some things will _never_ change.

So when Kyungsoo wakes up to an empty left side of the bed, made up as if nobody had slept there for hours, as if Baekhyun hadn't promised to stay in exchange for a sliver of Kyungsoo's time out there at the back of the Pokemon Center, he only laughs to himself. Tells himself, 'you never learn', and pushes himself off the bed. "Get up, help me out," he whispers as he summons Kirlia, Grovyle, and Sableye, then pulls a beanie over his messy hair. There's no reason to get all dressed up when he's heading to war, anyway. There's no reason to stay in bed longer than he should, waiting for something, _someone_ who doesn't know how to stay long enough in one place for it to be called 'home'. There's only a mission to fulfill and the world to save.

Kyungsoo cracks his knuckles and swings the door of the trainer's quarters open. Back to work.


	3. trouble comes in threes: the case of the missing leader

Kyungsoo steps down from the last flight of stairs from the station and looks around. When they said Seoul was bigger and much more daunting than any city one will ever find in Korea, Kyungsoo didn't expect this – big buildings all around him, taller than those he's seen in Mokpo-si, Jeonju-si, and Suwon-si, combined. More people out in the streets, every inch of walking space occupied by at least one person trying to get from one place to another. More cars and Pokemon, as well. He looks to his left and finds a young boy strolling down the street with a Mr. Mime, then a little girl with a Slurpuff just a few feet away from him. To his right, there's a group of high school students rushing to get to class and summoning their flying Pokemon one by one. A few more steps forward, and he bumps into an office worker with a Pikachu in his hands and a Gible trailing him. " _Faster!_ " the man says, brushing past Kyungsoo and the other people walking along the street. "Can't you just _urgh–_ Move over!"

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows and takes a step back, making way for the office worker. The dull ache in his arm remains, coupled with a nasty red scratch on his arm and his left leg. That Pikachu looked as if it was in great pain. If the trainer just stopped to ask for help then that Kyungsoo would've readily offered the medicine Seungsoo had shipped over the night before. And then Pikachu wouldn't have to endure the pain from maybe a tough gym leader challenge or an ordinary trainer battle. Or maybe even during training; Kyungsoo knows how it is to overextend one's Pokemon while trying to perfect their moves.

"–gym's closed again, indefinitely this time. 'Wonder if the rumors about some illegal activity really _is_ happening underground–" he catches someone saying. His eyes shoot up and he looks around, trying to locate the source of the voice, but to no avail – the crowds here in Seoul move too fast. Blink and you'll miss everything. It's difficult to catch up.

He passes by the Pokemon Center to heal up his companions then begins his exploration of the area, taking the main road for the time being in his quest for the gym. On a normal day, it only takes him five, ten minutes to hunt the gym down, but then most of the signages here have been taken down. Some look as if they've been stolen, if the top quarter of the signages still sticking to where the rest of the metal card used to hang off of is any indicator of it. And some are burnt around the ages.

Kyungsoo runs a finger along the sides and frowns at the thick black marking on his skin. It's still fresh. He snaps a picture of the marking and the damaged signages with the Gear and sends it straight to Professor Kwon, saying, _SEOUL, 11:09 a.m.. Aftermath of blackout? Also, heard that the gym’s closed indefinitely._

 _We'll look into this,_ comes Professor Kwon's quick response. _Ping the rest of the team, as well. I’m sure they’ll want to know when the gym will be operational again._

Kyungsoo nods to himself and forwards the image to Baekhyun, Sunyoung, and Soojung. As soon as the characters for ‘delivered’ appear on his screen, he resumes in his journey, hoping to find the gym and find out what made the gym leader close the establishment for the time being once and for all.

He ends up a little over two kilometers away from Seoul Station, though, in little Insa-dong where the roads aren’t as wide but aren’t as crowded, either. He lets Kirlia, Grovyle, and Sableye out of their Pokeballs, then, and whispers to them to stay close, stick together. “Don’t run off. We don’t know this place that much yet. I just wanted you to get some fresh air.” Kirlia and Grovyle nod in response, while Sableye just kind of stares at Kyungsoo with glassy eyes and a maniacal grin. It’s fashioning the same look it had before, when Kyungsoo met it in the cave back in the Tokchok Islands, just before Kyungsoo got out of the cave and earned his ticket to facing the gym leader.

He shifts his gaze to Kirlia, and Kirlia only responds with a shake of the head. Grovyle shrugs, but the blades on its arms stiffen, turn sharp in a blink of an eye. Kyungsoo gulps hard and takes a deep breath. Maybe this is just paranoia, the downside to knowing what has been happening in Daejeon-si and Gangneung-si and Busan, but part of him – like a tiny vessel of knowledge inside him and his Pokemon, even Trapinch who is shaking inside its Pokeball – can sense the shift in temperature, the way the gentle breeze turns into whipping winds that wrap around his neck like a vise. The way rain clouds hover the city like danger looming over him, following him to every town, county, city he goes to, watching his every move.

So he looks around them, takes in the details of the neighborhood and records them in his mind for future reference – the little stalls lined up in an alley, the food cart run by an old lady nearby. A small group of twenty-somethings, possibly, lugging around bottles of soju and slowly uncapping them at such an early hour. Three four-storey buildings nearby, then a narrow path where a blinding light stems from. The chilly winds of autumn washing over the entire neighborhood so early into the season, not even giving summer time to bid people goodbye.

 _Impending weather disturbance,_ he notes in his Gear. He motions for his Pokemon to come closer, walk a bit faster as they approach a quaint shop nearby. ‘All sorts of stones for sale,’ the signage says in big, bold characters. ‘Buy one now for only 20,000 won and get a key stone for free!'

“A key stone?” Kyungsoo mumbles under his breath. Back in trainer school, they’ve been taught about evolutionary stones – the elemental stones, the sun and moon stones, and the recently discovered dawn, dusk, and shiny stones. The ever stone, as well, that helps a Pokemon stop itself from evolving, but Kyungsoo has _never_ heard of a key stone before. It sounds like one of those weird prizes at the daily lottery that don’t really have any use. Seungsoo won the lottery once and got a year’s supply of Rare Candy; at least that helped him raise his Pokemon in the fastest way possible.

He snaps a picture of the place, as well, then zooms in on the banner just outside the door. Once he’s done, he slips inside and takes a look around before gesturing for his Pokemon to come with him.

“Ah, new customers,” comes a low voice from a few feet away. Kyungsoo draws his gaze to the source of the voice, then, a tall figure by the book shelf opposite the counter where the basic elemental stones are displayed. The man is about six feet tall and his hair reaches his shoulders. Or it probably would have it he didn’t have it tied up in a pony tail. He has the makings of a moustache on his face, and there are three small x-shaped scars close to a corner of his mouth, then just below the jut of the lip, and then on the chin. Or that's how things look like from where he is, when he squints through the scratched lenses of his glasses. The man looks like… someone who hasn’t showered in a while, or maybe someone who’s stayed up for the past three days just to make sure the shop didn't suffer too much from strong rains, what with the dark circles under his eyes. The outfit erases any trace of prejudice Kyungsoo once had, though – he inches even closer to where Kyungsoo is and stands tall before him in a crisp white button-down and dark jeans. Or dress pants, even. Kyungsoo can’t tell at the moment. The lighting here is too dim for him to be able to make out the texture of the man’s pants from this distance. “Ah, my mistake – just one little boy. And wow, you actually let your Pokemon out of their capsules when you’re traveling? I wouldn’t recommend that."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows for a moment, then eases the knot as soon as he remembers he’s facing someone he’s never seen before. “Only sometimes, when I feel that they need some fresh air,” he answers. He runs a thumb along Kirlia’s Pokeball, then, prepared to recall his Pokemon, but the man shakes his head violently, his bangs swinging from side to side as he moves. “Uh, why?"

“It’s just… not usual to see trainers letting their Pokemon walk on the streets, not after all the poaching cases here in Seoul,” the man whispers, then saunters over to where Kirlia in. He crouches low, leans in until his face is just a few inches from Kirlia’s own, and Kirlia stutters back in its steps, hiding behind Kyungsoo’s leg. Grovyle takes a step forward, looking up at the man, and the man laughs at that. He takes a step back. “You’re not from the big city, are you? What are you, a county boy or something? Where did you come from?” The man moves further away from Kyungsoo’s Pokemon when Sableye looks up at him and snickers. He leans back against the counter, then, and turns to face Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo gulps. “Your Pokemon should get used to humans flocking them. They’re very jumpy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Kirlia this jittery."

Like trainer, like Pokemon, Kyungsoo wants to say, but he doesn't know this man yet. He’s only met the man five minutes ago; he’s not about to divulge information easily. So instead, he says, “I come from somewhere far away. And Kirlia’s psychic typing allows it to pick up a lot of things – thoughts, plans, emotions.” Doesn’t tell the man, it can more than just read what's in people's minds and hearts, the things people don't even know they're thinking of. Kirlia can sense pain, fear, _danger._ And right now, the shift of Kirilia's muscles feels a lot like a warning.

The man shrugs at him in response, then lets out the softest snort. And then he’s laughing, a bright yet low sound filling Kyungsoo’s ears and bouncing off the four walls of the place. “Well, then, you better train them to get used to the city scene,” he says after a while, an eyebrow cocked at Kyungsoo. He scoffs. "It ain’t getting better for them anytime soon. Anyone and everyone will bug you. And someone might just snatch your Pokemon way from you faster than you can blink.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, curls in his fingers. The last time he ever heard about Pokemon poaching was back during the war, when Team Rocket stole every single Pokemon they laid their eyes on. When Team Rocket used each and every single one of them against their own trainers in an attempt to 'put an end to Pokemon slavery' around the world. He'd lost one of his faithful Pokemon to that movement two years ago, a Beautifly that had been with him through his entire academic life. He couldn't attack Beautifly at first, couldn't even look at if after the Pokemon had turned rouge and transformed into a shadow Pokemon, but he knew he had to defeat it else all his other Pokemon would be in grave danger of being infected with the 'disease’.

So he sent out his Pelipper – the same Pelipper who once saved him and Baekhyun from drowning when they were still seven – to take down the Beautifly. Told Pelipper to attack it with an Air Slash, "Keep going, Pelipper. Do it for your other friends. Do it for Beautifly–“ Kyungsoo closed his eyes then, when Pelipper fired the attack. He remembers, now, holding Ralts close, remembers covering Ralts’ eyes. Remembers telling himself, if this was what power did to both Pokemon and humans then he wouldn't take the first ferry out of the island anymore. He’d stay right there in Sinyuk-ri where time ticked by too slowly and he had to be content with watching people float by, _away._

"I was kidding. Nobody steals Pokemon anymore these days," the man says after a while. He brushes his knuckles against Kyungsoo's cheek and Kyungsoo looks away, wincing, _seething_. “Aww, kid, c’mon, you didn’t take that seriously, did you? Lighten up!"

Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk, and he feels all the blood in his veins rush to the tips of his fingers and toes. It takes every ounce of self-restraint to not lash out at the man, to not say that it was an awful joke, nobody should ever kid about the war, that was _too fucking insensitive,_ but– _Don't sink to his level,_ he tells himself. He cracks his neck, summons the best smile he can muster despite the quivering of his lips and his cheek muscles acting against him. And then, as with any battle, a few casualties – a bruised bottom lip, nails digging into his skin, chest heaving in tandem with the thumping against his ribs. Kirlia shaking right beside him, it's low whining growing louder with each passing second.

He drops his gaze to Kirlia, then, and bends his knees a little, just enough for him to feel the tuft of Kirlia's hair brush against the pads of his fingers. "You okay?" he asks, and Kirlia nods its head but tightens its hold on Kyungsoo's leg even more. "Are you sure– We should probably leave."

Grovyle bumps its head against Kyungsoo's leg and tugs on the hem of his shorts. It cocks its head to the side, in the direction of a shelf filled with stones on display. _Right,_ they'd gone inside to check what the 'key stone' was all about, if it's even real and is of any use to trainers. "Just a little longer," he whispers to Kirlia, then, picking up the Pokemon and resting it on his shoulder. To the man – the shopkeeper – he asks, "What are these stones? They... don't look like the standard evolutionary stones."

The man chuckles, shrugs, slips his hands in his pockets and leans back against the counter. A corner of his mouth is tugged up and the other is pushed all the way down, almost like an act of rebellion. And maybe _this_ is an act of rebellion – any shopkeeper would give more information on his products as soon as he's asked. Any shopkeeper would want to sell his products because isn't that the number one goal? To make money?

"That's because they aren't," the shopkeeper says after a while. He pushes himself up, standing tall on two feet again, and makes his way to where Kyungsoo is. Kirlia shudders in response, its whole body heating up. The warmth prickles Kyungsoo's skin. "Rather, they're not your usual evolutionary stones. These... orb-like stones you see in front of you? They have the ability to draw even greater power out of certain Pokemon. Make them faster, stronger, sturdier–" The man lets out a long sigh. Then he inches even closer, splaying his fingers on the glass before pointing a row of stones. "See these three here? They're Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard. _Two_ are for Charizard."

Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow at him in response. "What do you mean 'two are for Charizard'?" he asks, then shifts his attention to the stones in front of him. The first one should be for Venusaur – the fibers or color in the middle are that of Venusaur's coat. The clear white orb with a bright blue fiber is probably Blastoise's. Or maybe it's the one colored charcoal with a hint of deep blue in the middle? He squints and leans closer, trying to make sense of the details, but it's hard to tell. He's never seen anything like these orbs in front of him his entire life. For all he knows, the two blue 'stones' are what the man was talking about just seconds ago.

Worse, the man might just be fooling around with him, leading him on. Making him believe that these 'new evolutionary stones' are real. And he might just be wasting his time trying to understand the science behind these stones. So he tries again, asks this time around, "You mean to say Charizard can evolve _twice_ even after reaching its final stage?"

The man nods, just one bob of the head, and smiles. Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him as if saying, that's it, that's all you have? But soon the man is parting his lips and unlocking the case where the orbs are kept. "Yes, that's right. This stone–" He takes the dark blue on and rubs his thumb along the surface. It gives off a wicked glow, and the charcoal fiber at the center grows darker at the first contact. Then the fiber glows, gleams, lights up like a single tongue of flame being brought to life. Kyungsoo leans back a little, feels the pads of his fingers grow cold. He wonders if touching the orb will leave him with a burn, if it will leave marks on his skin the same way that running his finger along the edge of the signage did. "–this is for Mega Charizard X. Charizard gains dragon typing once it gets a hold of this stone and transforms with it through the link it shares with its trainer." The man gives the orb another swipe with its thumb, then hands over the stone to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo hesitates for a moment, doesn't quite reach out yet, but the man isn't wincing. If the orb had the capacity to set things, people on fire then the man should be in flames by now, burning to cinders. Reduced to a speck of dust that the blowing winds outside can lift off the ground with relative ease. "But not just any ordinary link. It has to be a bond so strong that the trainer will be able to bring out that untapped potential in the Pokemon."

"You can do that through training, journeying with your Pokemon," Kyungsoo answers. He takes the orb in his hands, then, anticipating a crippling heat or maybe a rush of warmth from his fingers to his arms, but none of those. The orb feels heavy and cold in his hands, like all the energy stored inside is still waiting for the right trainer to awaken it.

Baekhyun would be good with fire-types. Maybe he's the one who can unleash the power inside the orb. Soojung wouldn't be such a bad candidate, either, after having trained with Torchic for a while already. Or maybe Kyungsoo just needs to work harder to be able to bring out the best in his Pokemon, whatever type they may be.

"Al... right," he whispers, then hands the stone back to the shopkeeper. "How about Charizard's other form? Does Charizard gain a different typing when it... goes through another phase of evolution?"

"No, it remains a combination of a fire and flying-type Pokemon," the shopkeeper explains. He gives Kyungsoo a curt nod as Kyungsoo returns the orb, then slots it back in place before opening the next panel. "But it does become stronger. And it gains the ability to summon intense heat during battle–"

Kyungsoo lifts his eyebrows. He drops his gaze to his Gear and pulls up Professor Kwon’s contact card, sends her a short message that says, _listen,_ then hits the ‘call’ button. "Just like Sunny Day?"

The shopkeeper nods. "That's right, except you don't need to teach Charizard that anymore. All you have to do is to send Charizard to battle and tell it to evolve another time after its trainer reaches deep into Charizard's mind and heart to bring the best out of the Pokemon," he answers. He gestures at the contents of the other panel – more of the new evolutionary stones and a few smaller gems that look nothing like the orb Kyungsoo had touched earlier. Kyungsoo moves even closer to get a better glimpse the items, then. Some of the new evolutionary stones have been paired off with jewellery. One is a simple silver chain with a hook in the middle, and another's a gauntlet. Beside it are a tiara and a silver glove. There's a brooch there, too, a locket, a wrist watch, a hair clip and an earring, all of which have at least two circles where he can plug a small piece of the orbs in.

But these are all human accessories, though, not for Pokemon. So Kyungsoo asks, "What are these... items for?" and looks up at the man, holding his gaze. "And are these stones for the Pokemon, as well?"

"Those smaller stones? They're for the trainer, the Pokemon's guardian. They're the trigger to the mega evolution," the man replies. His voice cracks a little and... he sounds a bit familiar, Kyungsoo muses, someone he knows from a few years back. The memory is faint, though, like a white wisp just clouding his vision and forcing him to close his eyes so he go back to two years ago, to the war. He brushes that thought away, though, when he catches a glimpse of the way the man’s lips quiver, the soft upward curl of the lip slowly turning into a wicked grin. "You call this a key stone, and the small circle here, you see this?" the man asks, bringing the silver glove close to Kyungsoo's face, "This is where you'll place your key stone. But not all key stones are the same. Each trainer requires a different stone. You'll want something that balances out your power and that of your Pokemon's, otherwise the mega evolution will be a disaster–"

"–and might even result to death," Kyungsoo says, barely above a whisper. Too much power setting things on fire and disrupting peace not only in Korea but in the whole world – that was what happened during the war. He feels a traitorous cold wrap around his neck and stun him for a moment, making him shiver all over. He seethes. "How do you... avoid situations like those?"

"Well, there's... no one answer to that," the man says. He takes a deep breath and slumps his shoulders forward. "There's no way to measure it. Only your Pokemon will know if it trusts you enough to reach deep into its thoughts and its heart to respond to your call. For some, it takes years to be able to bring out that untapped potential. For some, it takes only months, sometimes even _weeks._ And it sounds cheesy as heck but it really depends on the spark, the connection between the trainer and the Pokemon at the first encounter. You… know what I’m talking about, right?” The man laughs. “It sounds so silly but _the connection_ makes a lot of difference. The connection between you and Kirlia makes it different from all the other Ralts you’ve probably encountered on your way here.

Kyungsoo laughs a little, nods. Too well, he wants to say, he knows that feeling too well. When he heard Ralts’ cry years ago while it was being attacked by a flock of Spearow, he felt his knees go weak and fear wrap around his throat so tight. He knew he just had to save Ralts and take care of it forever. When he saw Ralts and Treecko having such a great time working with each other to recruit Wingull to the team, he knew Wingull would be a great fit in his roster. When Trapinch managed to bring out a renewed strength out of Treecko, he knew right then and there that he had to make Trapinch part of his team. And then there was Sableye who approached him, asked him to hear the Pokemon out, and stuck with him long after Sableye had finished helping Kyungsoo get through the cave leading to the Tokchok Islands gym.

There’s a reason why all their teachers back in trainer school told them to always consider gut feel first before typing when recruiting Pokemon and sending Pokemon out to battle. “Because what’s a strong Pokemon if his trainer doesn’t believe in him?” Kyungsoo recalls one of their teachers saying. “What is skill and power without the drive to win?"

Kyungsoo's PokeGear gives off a beep. His body gives a tiny jerk. He cracks his neck, then, trying to lift the tension in his muscles. When he drops his gaze to the display on his wrist, he finds a curt _ok_ from Professor Kwon, then the light of his Gear blinking a bright red. Maybe he's being tracked right now by the main Pokemon Center back in Mokpo-si and the head office is using the Gear as a camera. Maybe Professor Kwon is listening to their conversation, trying to get information on mega evolution, a type of Pokemon transformation that the public hasn't seen yet in the recent past. So Kyungsoo prods further, asks, "Has there been any news on mega evolution gone wrong?"

The man looks up from his wavy bangs. Kyungsoo meets his gaze halfway and squints as images flash before his eyes – running into a man who looks like this shopkeeper in front of him years ago, looking up at the man from where Kyungsoo was lying on the ground. Explosions all around them, and the sound of people wailing filling his senses and numbing them. The familiar heavy thumping in his chest now as he recalls all these, taking the first train back to two years ago when every waking moment was spent trying to think of ways to survive for the next twenty-four hours.

The sharp angles of the man's cheeks soften as the light filtering from the glass roof above grows stronger. It's bright enough to lift some of the shadows in the room and set the orbs aglow even more. "You think they'd ever let the public know about it? Science failing for the very first time and not being able to explain this new method of making your Pokemon stronger?" he asks, scoffing. "This... this phenomenon, kid, this isn't something we talk about out in the streets. Can you– Can you just _imagine_ how people would feel if they ever found out that these Pokemon could actually feed off of their trainers' energy to make themselves stronger? Do you know what this means, kid?"

"It's not feeding off of the trainer's energy if the Pokemon is one with its trainer, though," Kyungsoo retorts. He squints a little when the light shining down on them intensifies, begins to prickle his skin like how summer is supposed to. "If what you're saying is true, if really is the bond between the trainer and the Pokemon that makes it possible for the Pokemon to evolve then both parties have something to gain and to lose," he explains, gulping hard before continuing, "So it can't– It isn't _dangerous,_ not in the hands of the right person–"

"And who would your 'right person' be, huh? Members of the Elite Four? The World Champion? Your darling gym leaders who make all the executive decisions in the cities they rule over?" The man scoffs. He walks even closer to where Kyungsoo is, and Kyungsoo matches that with a step back, slinking back into the thin sheet of shadows behind him. He can see the man better now, bathed in light. Without shadows pulling down on his cheeks and drawing dark circles under his eyes, the man actually looks young, maybe even the same age as he and Baekhyun are. He can't be more than three years older, not with the tone of his speech. 'World Champion' was a term rebuked by the older trainers; only the younger trainers, the ones who yearn to compete with trainers around the world, the ones who thirst for an adventure and a challenge, are the only ones who use the term 'World Champion' these days. "Or, _ah,_ you're thinking of those _incorruptible_ Pokemon professors, right? The lady who gave you that PokeGear of yours blinking in red and that Grovyle that looks as if it wants to slash me alive?" he continues. He shakes his head. "Do you know how many trainers, how many _Pokemon_ these professors have fooled into thinking that catching Pokemon is only for research purposes and completing your PokeDex? Didn't you ever think that by sending out children to the streets on their behalf, these professors are trying to make trainers do dirty deeds they wouldn't want themselves to be associated with?"

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows, takes a step back. Kirlia's body gives off a faint glow, an eerie light that burns the skin on the slope of his neck. He tries not to shiver, not with Kirlia resting on his shoulder. Kirlia isn't feeling too well; the slightest movement will startle the Pokemon and might cause it to attack in a effort to defend itself.

"You–" You have a point, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind whispers. For all he knows, Professor Kwon might just be using them for whatever evil scheme she has, if any. For all he knows, he might be supporting the wrong cause and might, in fact, be helping Professor Kwon spread chaos all over the country; then, after that, the world. But Pokemon _know_ when they're in danger. They can sense when humans plan to do something ill to and with them. If there's anything, anyone Kyungsoo can trust then it's Pokemon, both his and that of others. Professor Kwon's Togekiss adores her and has even risked its life for her too many times. Numel has stuck by Baekhyun's side since the day the two met. And Kirlia hasn't left his side, ever. Kirlia, who knows just by looking at people and Pokemon _who_ they are and the kind of beings that they can be in the future, has stayed with him through the war and some of the toughest times in Kyungsoo's life.

Kirlia could have easily left him while it was still a Ralts, could've gone with the other trainer who tried to save Kyungsoo and Ralts after being severely wounded from the attack of the Spearows. But it didn't. Ralts stuck with him. He must have done something right, at the very least.

So Kyungsoo says, "You don't know what you're saying," and shifts his gaze back to the shelf, doesn't tell the man that _he_ knows nothing about what goes on behind the scenes, how the League Association is trying to help out each and every single trainer registered with the Association, how Professor Kwon, herself, watches over the trainers and sends her finest assistants just to help people out. They don't know that. All they know is that the League uses these trainers as part of their quest to earn more money by holding tournaments in different cities. That's all the League will allow them to know because independence fuels people to do better, to work harder, makes them feel like they're capable of anything they set their eyes on.

"How did you find these orbs? I mean the mega evolution stones?" he asks after a while. He cocks his head in the direction of the shelf, then sneaks a glance at the PokeGear wrapped around his wrist. The red light is still blinking. Maybe that's what Professor Kwon and her team should develop next time, an inconspicuous way of letting the Gear owner know that he's still on the line or on broadcast. The storekeeper doesn't budge but one of his eyebrows is lifted, almost as if saying, you're really going to stay after that? After I dissed your boss? You're different, kid, you're pretty strange. "Seoul's the national capital; you have access to almost everything here. I won't be surprised if you… traded for some of these? Any collector would be willing to spend this much just to complete his collection–"

The man's lips pull up at the corners, just a small smile that makes the corners of his eyes crinkle. That's one year lifted off of the man’s features, one year of strain on his face washed away by a quirk of the lip. "Mining, mostly," he says after a while. "Sometimes, these stones just find me and fall on my lap. Sometimes, I send out my men to find them."

The man has one of those tiny stones – a key stone – clipped to the top button of his polo. Light catches on its surfaces and hits Kyungsoo's eyes with a vengeance. Kyungsoo squints. The man's lips are still parted, poised to speak, but no sound comes out, and Kyungsoo wants to ask him _and then?_ But his throat feels tight and dry like the rest of his body already knows what's coming; his mind just has to catch up.

"And sometimes, I... manage to convince people to give them to me, free of charge," the man continues with a lilt in his voice. He shifts in his position a little, then reaches for a white orb with salmon and green fibers in the middle. It glimmers in the light as he draws it closer to his chest, gives off a faint glow when he hands it over to Kyungsoo. "The same way that you managed to convince me to lend you this– _Oh,_ hang on. Is your Kirlia a male or a female?"

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows for a moment, then mumbles, "Female." He feels Kirlia pushing itself up, trying to get back on two feet and to solid ground, so he guides his Pokemon and lifts it off his shoulder. "Does it make a difference, whether Kirlia will be a Gardevoir in the future or if it becomes a Gallade?"

"There are two different evolution stones for it, just like Charizard," the man replies. He reaches deep into the shelf for something, a little gem fit on a silver band. "Here, try to see if Kirlia likes the feel of the mega stone," he says. He motions for Kirlia to come closer and it takes a while for the Pokemon to respond, takes a while for Kirlia to look up at the man and take a step forward to reach out for the stone. "This is the Gardevoirite, and if you give it to Kirlia once it evolves to its final form then there's a chance that you'll be able to bring out its fullest potential as a Gardevoir."

Kyungsoo nods and takes a deep breath as Kirlia presses its hands on the surface of the orbs. Kirlia examines it, draws its face closer to the stone. The orb gives off a glow, just a thin wisp of light, pinkish in color, wrapping around the surface and crawling up Kirlia's arms. Kirlia looks up at Kyungsoo with not fear in its eyes but... _excitement?_ Kyungsoo inches closer and squints. He bends his knees, crouching, and rests his hands on Kirlia's shoulders. Kirlia's body is aglow now, every inch of it shining bright and illuminating the once-dark room. And Kirlia is smiling. The corners of its lips are pulled up and its swaying from side to side. The last time Kyungsoo Krilia – no, _Ralts_ – like this was the day before they left Sinyuk-ri. Ralts was dancing in Kyungsoo's room, then, trying to make the most out of its last day in their little village.

"Wear this," the man soon says, handing the silver band to Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo examines it for a moment before slipping the ring on his right index finger. The key stone glows as soon as the ring snaps in place. And then everything goes white. There's nothing around him but a vast sea of white, a bright light, and winds lifting him off the ground. There's nothing he can hear but the gentle whistling of the breeze. And there's nothing else that he can feel but one tiny warm dot pressed to his skin, leaving a bright red patch the size of Kirlia's palm on his arm.

He blinks a few times, looks up, tries to breathe. He sees Kirlia at the end of a long path and– "You've... evolved," he mutters. Gardevoir greets him with a curt nod, then rushes in his direction, wrapping its warm arms around him and enveloping Kyungsoo in an embrace. "Kirlia, you've grown. You're no longer– You're now a–" Memories of all the times they've spent together catch up with him – the time when Ralts met Wurmple for the very first time and cowered in fear whenever Kyungsoo made Wurmple use String Shot, the time when Ralts had to wake Numel up from being asleep for too long with a Confusion attack. That time when Ralts helped Kyungsoo and Baekbeom decorate the Byun family's backyard in preparation for Baekhyun's eighth birthday. That time when Ralts helped him find Baekhyun two days before Baekhyun had to leave. And that time when Ralts teleported to his shoulder and give his head a gentle nudge with its crown, as if saying, _it's alright, I understand you. You'll never be alone, master. I will always be here for you–_

"Wake up," comes a gentle voice from close by, and soon Kyungsoo's pulling away, falling on his knees and pressing his palms to the ground in an effort to steady himself. He looks up at the man, then shifts his gaze to his side to find Kirlia on the floor, as well. Slowly, Kirlia opens its eyes and lifts its arms, reaching out to Kyungsoo. So Kyungsoo rushes to his Pokemon's side, takes Kirlia in his arms and whispers, "Hey, you looked great out there as a Gardevoir. Do you want that? Will it be okay with you to evolve?"

"I knew there was something different in you when I saw you outside the shop," the man says now. He laughs, bright and loud, and the sound rings in Kyungsoo's ears, tickles a part of his mind again and makes images of the war flash before Kyungsoo's eyes again. This time, it's of Kyungsoo's first battle against Team Rocket, the match where Beautifly managed to take out three out of the four Pokemon the Rocket grunt had in his arsenal only to fall prey to Team Rocket's Shadow Tagger.

The same day, Kyungsoo fought for Beautifly and fought to bring Beautifly back to its original form. The same day, he lost one of first Pokemon he'd caught on his own. And on that day, Kyungsoo swore to himself to help in the battle against Team Rocket at all costs, to do whatever he could to help stop the evil organization from doing more crimes and spreading their twisted perception of what's right and wrong across continents, around the world.

"–other than you periodically zoning out, I mean, but I knew just by looking at you and seeing how you interact with your Pokemon that there was something different," the man continues. Kyungsoo hoists Kirlia up, holding it against his chest, then gestures for Grovyle to come closer and hold onto the hem of his shorts. "You let them outside their capsules yet they made _no effort_ to escape. That's the first sign of trust. And that's a manifestation of how well you treat them. Maltreated Pokemon will always want to stay as far away as possible from their trainers. Pokemon that are cared for will stick around even if they're already presented with the chance to be free."

Kyungsoo tilts his head to the side to get a better glimpse of Kirlia's features. Kirlia looks up at him, the grin on its lips still steady, unrelenting. It's as if Kirlia never had any apprehension evolving and leaving behind its old state, even when it was a Ralts. It's almost as if the war never scarred Kirlia, never twisted its perception of Pokemon evolution from something normal to transforming into a weapon of mass destruction.

It's almost like living in Sinyuk-ri again, ten years ago, when all Kyungsoo had to worry about was Seungsoo fucking up dinner and adding too much salt to the stew.

"Kirlia and I have been partners for a long time already," Kyungsoo admits. He runs his fingers through Kirlia's hair and gives the tuft a light ruffle. "We survived the war together so the bond really _is_ strong, but–" He looks at the ring on his finger, the small gem staring him down, blinding him when light bounces off its surface. There's too much power in it, too much untapped potential contained in a small stone. So many things can go wrong if the key stone reaches the hands of the evil, and Kyungsoo isn't sure if he's willing to risk that at the moment. Trouble and disaster have been following him – no, _them_ – around for too long already that Kyungsoo's almost convinced that he has a score to settle with life. If he ever runs into any members of Team Rocket, if he ever encounters the genies again, what happens? If they end up with the key stone and the Gardevoirite, they might be one step closer to wrecking havoc again. And Kyungsoo doesn't want to be the key to the next war.

"I'm not sure if I can accept this," he continues, exhaling loudly as he ends. He slips the ring off of his finger, then hands it over to the shopkeeper. "It's too much of a responsibility. And Kirlia's not even a Gardevoir yet. We don't have a use for this–"

"And neither do I, kid. The stone's been lying around here for months, waiting for a trainer to tame it." The man rests a hand on his shoulder. His hand is big, his skin callous and warm. Kyungsoo feels a funny tingle wrap around his soles, seep through his toes. "Trust me, only few were able to connect with both the orb and their Pokemon so fast. I've seen them, kid, _I've seen them all._ The last boy who walked in this shop walked away with a Cameruptite, free yet again. I handed it over to him because I saw how much he cared for his Camerupt and how safe his Camerupt felt in his company. I mean, what will I do with these orbs of power? I'm–" The man laughs, shakes his head, rolls his eyes. Snorts before he can gather his words again and resume in his speech. Then Kyungsoo sees it, the scars on the man’s cheeks. They’re not little x marks, unlike the wounds he’d seen earlier. "I'm a stone collector, not a trainer. Well, fine, maybe I was into training Pokemon before, but that was a long time ago. Now I just sit here all day, wishing that a trainer would come in and prove to me that he deserves to go away with one of these."

"A Camerupt trainer? Was he... wearing a cap the wrong way, by any chance?" Kyungsoo asks.

The shopkeeper raises an eyebrow at him at first, but soon nods in response. The man then mumbles something about moving around too much and almost knocking things down, "He almost dropped the orb. Good thing its durable enough that it won't break." The man locks his arms behind his back, then, stretching, and says, "He's just a bit taller than you are, but I'm guessing you're around the same age. I guess this is the day I hand mega evolution stones to the young ones, eh?"

So Numel's evolved now, huh, is the first thing that crosses his mind. The second, you're not supposed to be staying in Seoul, Byun. Stick with the mission. _Stay away._

Kirlia snaps Kyungsoo out of his trance with a gentle nudge against his leg. Kirlia's still holding the Gardevoirite in its hands and the orb is still shining. Kirlia's body is no longer aglow, but it hasn't lost the sparkle in its eyes yet. If anything, the rush of power has breathed new life into Kirlia, awakened something deep inside the Pokemon that Kirlia never knew existed. And maybe it won't be so bad to tap into that power, Kyungsoo muses, to use the Gardevoirite in difficult situations. They're out to save the world, after all, not to end lives. If there's a tool that can bring them one step closer to taming the legendary genies and can help them combat evil, then what is there to lose?

"Looks like your little Kirlia fancies the orb already, huh," the man says. Kyungsoo holds up the silver band in front of him and studies the gem at the middle another time. When it was still in the shelf, lined with the other key stones and the accessories that came with them, it was a deep shade of charcoal, but now it's glowing a bright green, almost as if– “And looks like you've awakened the key stone. I told you earlier, every key stone is different. That one – the one you have in the ring – it was brought to life as soon as you touched it. And–" The shopkeeper laughs a little, dropping his gaze to Kirlia who's now holding the orb close to its chest. "And your Kirlia seems to love it. It hasn't let go of the orb since it touched it." The man gives Kyungsoo a light kick at the tip of his shoe. 'C'mon, can you ever say 'no' to Kirlia?"

Kyungsoo looks down at Kirlia at the same time that Grovyle moves closer and gives his leg a nudge. It's almost as if Grovyle is saying, _Come on, Kyungsoo, it's for free. You shouldn't even be thinking about this! There's nothing wrong with going with gut feel from time to time, right?_ And maybe Grovyle's right. If, in school, they were taught to go with who they thought was the best to pit up against their opponent, then the same should also apply to other things in life.

And he misses the warmth that he'd felt earlier, when he connected with Kirlia. He misses the familiar heat prickling his skin and making his insides turn. He yearns for the same warmth that got him through some of the coldest nights and left him even before he could grow accustomed to it, replaced instead by a made up bed, neat sheets, a sticky note that says, _sorry._ Taking a deep breath, he answers, "Fine, I'll take it," then slips the ring back in place. The shopkeeper claps his hands together and beams at him, lips pulling up in a big smile. "Are you sure there isn't anything that you want in return?"

"Data. Studies. Just results. _A smile,_ " the man says, giving a corner of Kyungsoo's mouth a light poke. “And oh, here’s a Sceptilite for your little Grovyle. You might find a use for it.” He chucks the orb at Kyungsoo, who has to stretch out just to reach the orb. The shopkeeper laughs. “Use them well and often. And if you think you already have a lot of data on the you'll know where to find me," he adds, finishing with a wink.

Kyungsoo shifts in his position, lips poised to ask for the shopkeeper's name, but too late. Soon, the man's retreating to the back of the shop, disappearing behind thick layers of shadows and ten long feet between them. He tries to run after a man but hits a border in his journey deeper into the shop, bumps into an invisible wall and falls on his ass on the floor. The sound of the ring scraping against the wooden floor crawls to his ears, makes him shiver. The press of his other palm on the cool floor boards makes the blood in his system flow faster, wilder. And when Kirlia lets out a soft, triumphant cry a few feet away, he feels the racing in his chest, the pulse in his palms and temples and the back of his knees still. The many voices at the back of his head, saying, _you'll never be able to help Ralts, you'll never break free from the chains of the war. You'll never be able to move on–_ soften into a whisper and thin into a silence broken only by Grovyle laughing at Kirlia almost dropping the orb, by Kirlia groaning at Grovyle in distress. By the heavy thumping in Kyungsoo's chest easing into a steady _thump-thadump_ set to the rhythm of their collective laughter.

→

Nine in the evening after dinner sees Kyungsoo sitting on the small field at the back of the Pokemon Center. Pelipper has asked to skip tonight's practice, just flying around and roaming the city, instead, while Trapinch focuses on making its Headbutt attack more powerful by practicing on some tall trees. Grovyle has been helping Trapinch, firing off leaves in the air for Trapinch's target practice, but for the most part Grovyle seems to be the one trying to work on his speed with the way Trapinch keeps missing its attacks and ends up tackling Grovyle to the ground, instead. "Focus, Trapinch. Don't rush your attacks!" Kyungsoo calls out from the opposite side of the field where he's monitoring Sableye's progress, and Grovyle only waves its arms in the air in response. Kyungsoo lets out a heavy sigh then, propping himself against his arms as he leans back and closes his eyes.

There's no need to rush – the gym won't open again until the following day, anyway – but he wants to make the most out of his stay here in Seoul. Tomorrow morning, he plans to scour the southern part of the city, to take a look around Gangnam-gu where the gym is supposed to be. There's a park in the area so maybe he can train some more in the afternoon or even catch some Pokemon. And when evening hits again, he can retreat to the Pokemon Center and hope he'll run into someone who hadn't followed the plan, maybe even have a quick chat with him outside the Center, just before they turn in for the night.

He laughs to himself, _at himself._ Worrying about Baekhyun should be the least of his priorities now. His mission comes first, and his gym challenge comes second. Then after that, learning more about mega evolution that Professor Kwon has deemed to be possibly the biggest discovery since finding out about Rotom being able to change forms.

Sableye lets out a tiny sound as it settles beside Kyungsoo and pulls its knees close to its chest. Kyungsoo drops his gaze to the shadowy figure beside him and reaches out, but doesn't quite touch Sableye yet. He waits – for Sableye to push his hand away or to sink into the touch, or for Sableye to attack him, maybe, test its own moves against its trainer. Sableye does none of those, though, reaching for Kyungsoo's thigh with its leg, instead, as if testing the waters.

Kyungsoo drops his hand to his side, just close enough to Sableye that the Pokemon can reach him anytime it wants to. "Don't feel bad. Foul Play is a tricky move; you have to know how to find your opponent's weak spots at once," he says, offering Sableye a small smile. He gestures for Sableye to come closer, then, but the Pokemon doesn't budge, just kind of looks up at him and tilts its head to the side. There's a question there, scrawled on the sound on Sableye's faint cry, written in the way Sableye keeps poking Kyungsoo's leg but doesn't quite lean into his touch. In the way Sableye slowly, _very slowly,_ inches closer until their sides snap together in the tight press of their bodies.

Kyungsoo laughs a little and runs a hand down Sableye's side. "Just do better next time. There's always a next time," he tells his Pokemon. Then, reaching out with his hand, he gives Sableye a soft pat on the head. "I didn't know how to throw a Pokeball until I was six. That's awful. That's the worst possible thing that can happen to a trainer, did you know that?"

Sableye lets out a loud snort, then slumps against Kyungsoo's side. It almost feels familiar, the way Sableye fights the urge to give in at first, the way Sableye laughs at him but eventually leans in, letting him know that _hey, like trainer, like Pokemon. We can be a failure together. And we can get back up together, as well._

He looks to his side, at Sableye's relaxed figure against him, then laughs to himself. "No, Kyungsoo, you should never liken Pokemon to people," he mumbles, then shakes his head. "Go to bed, get some sleep. You're crazy."

Sableye looks up at his and rolls its eyes. Reaches up to give Kyungsoo's cheek a light punch as if saying, _I was kidding. You're not crazy but you actually kinda are?_ Sableye's body gives a tiny jerk, its shoulder shaking. It looks a bit creepier than it should, what with the gems on its body glimmering brighter than before and the tiny beams of light it gives off when the spotlight out here in the field catches on the gems, but for the most part it looks as if Sableye's painting with lights against the night sky. Maybe trying to cheer Kyungsoo up a little, lift the tension of having to travel the whole day and work hard until the evening from his shoulders. A shiver crawls up Kyungsoo's spine and wraps around his neck, his body catching up with his mind too late, but soon he's laughing in tandem with Sableye's hiccuped giggles. It comes out loud, deafening, enough to soften the sound of grass rustling nearby, and the loud 'thud' of the door as it opens then shuts tight again.

They head back inside an hour after, close to midnight when Nurse Jinri turns off the spotlight outside and tells them to get some rest already. He lets out all of his Pokemon before leaving for his bath, tucks in every single one of them, even Pelipper who's struggling with not flapping its wings around every few seconds and waking up Trapinch just when it's about to fall into a deep slumber. Only much later, in the shower with a blanket of warm water enveloping him and shielding him from the rest of the world, does he hear the voices at the back of his head again, all of them sounding like him and saying only one thing.

"Don't," he mutters under his breath before the voices utter a word. He tilts his head up, facing the rush of the warm water, and relishes the prickling sensation leaving marks on his skin. _Don't give in._

→

The trip to Gangnam only takes half an hour by train. Kyungsoo would have walked from one side of the river to another, but he woke up this morning with a sore ankle and even more sore thighs from yesterday's long walk. He crosses off the option to fly to the location, as well, because Pelipper has a habit of hitting Kyungsoo's legs with its wings whenever they fly short locations. It's an act of rebellion, Kyungsoo muses as he massages his right ankle, leaning against a telephone booth for support. Pelipper has always loved roaming big cities, flying around and doing weird dives in the process. It has always been more of a performer than a standard battler. Pelipper is, well, one-of-a-kind.

"Your Pokemon's weird," he recalls Soojung mentioning one time, when they were training side by side. Pelipper was trying to master the art of making wings out of multiple layers of Air Slashes when Kyungsoo's only request was for Pelipper to practice its aim. "Sort of like you, except it has more personality than you do. But yeah, you're both weird," she even added then began to walk to the opposite direction to pick up her Zubat from where it has fallen to the ground. As if on cue, Pelipper spun on the tip of its wings then did a curtsey as it finished. Soojung looked over her shoulder, then, and said, "No offense, by the way. But you know what I mean."

It's Pelipper that guides him while walking now, though, pressing its right wing to his back from time to time while flying close by. The station isn't so far away from where the gym is supposed to be, an old electrical plant that was burnt to the ground during the war, but his aching ankle makes the travel twice as longer and as torturous. "Yellow building," he mutters, looking around him, and tries to hobble a few more steps, but to no avail – a sharp, numbing pain shoots up his leg and makes him stop in his tracks.

He grips his knees tight and holds up his hand to signal at Pelipper. Pelipper lands on its feet and presses its beak to his back. It lets out a soft cry after a while, at the same time that Kirlia's Pokeball gives a violent shake. "Five seconds. Just– This is annoying," he grumbles. Maybe he shouldn't have walked from the station to Insa-dong then the Pokemon Innovations University in Sangwolgok, _and then back._ Maybe he shouldn't have decided to travel that distance under the sweltering heat of the sun at all.

"So this is what happens when I'm not around to save your ass all the time," comes a familiar voice. You're hallucinating, Kyungsoo tells himself, _get a grip–_ But it sounds too real. The the tone of the voice, the timbre, the warm touch on his shoulder that sends a shiver down his spine – these can't be made up. If they are then he's got a wicked good imagination, but then he's never been good at things he can't grasp – ideas, concepts, _emotions._ "It's only been a day, Soo. Did you really miss me that much?"

He takes a sharp, deep breath and looks over his shoulder. Sunlight blinds him, hits his eyes like it's seeking revenge for a crime he didn't even commit, so he squints. You're backlit, he wants to say, you're getting in the way of the sun, _go away,_ but soon the details of the face just inches away from his becomes clearer. Three tiny scars mapping out a crooked line from the corner of his mouth to the jut of his lip to his chin, a mole half a centimeter from the gentle swell of his upper lip. A red, red nose. Bright eyes dimmed only by the dark circles under them and the wrinkles on his forehead. The crisp image of the shock in Kyungsoo's face so crisp in Baekhyun's eyes.

"It's only been a day," Baekhyun says again, more slowly this time, and drawls the last few syllables. His lips curl up at the corners even more. Kyungsoo feels his insides turn. "Is this the difference a day apart makes, hmm?"

He shivers. Tells Baekhyun, “You’re supposed to be elsewhere,” as a greeting, a knee-jerk reaction. He tries to inch away, tries to put some distance between then, but a sharp pain soon shoots up his leg again when he twists his ankle on accident. Screw this injury, his lack of foresight. Screw the blocks here in Gangnam being too far apart that just walking from one side of the street to another feels like torture. He seethes, then, gripping his knees tight again, until Baekhyun rests a warm hand on the small of his back. He presses against it, eager to feel the warmth crawl up his spine and ease the tension in his body, but all he ever succeeds in doing is putting more strain on his knees.

Wrong move again, he tells himself. One misstep after another without a plan to fall back on in the face of danger. Kyungsoo shuts his eyes tight for a moment, trying to push down the pain wrapping around his knees, then blows out a puff of air. “Fucking _ow._ "

“So what stupid thing did you do again?” Baekhyun asks as he throws Kyungsoo’s arm over his shoulder. Kyungsoo can feel it, the warmth of Baekhyun’s skin pressed to the thin material of his shirt. He shivers a little, feels his knees weakening again as the ache in his limbs burns. Baekhyun snakes his hand around his waist and pulls him close in response. _This_ feels better, puts less strain on his knees, he muses. He doesn’t say that out loud, though. “I thought _I_ was supposed to be the clumsy one and you were supposed to be the one who had everything planned out?"

“Change of plans. I had a personality transplant,” Kyungsoo grumbles. He cocks his head in the direction of the store closest to them and lets out a loud exhale. Maybe walking more than ten meters was a bad idea, even worse than leaning against Baekhyun’s warm body. Or maybe he’s just thinking too much again. It’s just a biting pain in the ankle, nothing more. “Sorry but– Can you help me get there? I just really need to sit for a while–"

“Say no more,” Baekhyun replies, lips curling up at the corners. He wiggles his eyebrows. “Your wish is my command."

Kyungsoo feels his knees give another shake when they take a small step forward. _Come on,_ he tells himself, the store's just a few quick hobbles away, but the movement grows stronger, wilder. Almost like the ground beneath him is shaking to the beat of the thundering pulse at the back of his knees. He blinks a few times, then, stopping in his tracks completely and turning to Baekhyun to say, "You felt that, right? The tremors?" He can't be mistaken. He knows his body more than anyone else does and _that_ strong quake didn't feel like his knees giving away. "Wait, stop–"

" _Whoa!_ " Baekhyun blurts out, eyes widening in accord. His grip on Kyungsoo tightens, nails digging into Kyungsoo's sides. It doesn't hurt, but the thundering pulse on Baekhyun's palm drums a beat too fast on his skin for him to catch up with. It makes Kyungsoo's heart race faster in his own chest, makes him cough. Makes his throat feel too tight and dry that he feels like he's gasping for air. "Was that– Look out!"

Baekhyun pulls them to the lamp post closest to them in time to dodge falling debris. Kyungsoo leans back against the post, reaches down to massage his knees, his calf. The violent shaking leaves a dull ache in his muscles, but it isn't over yet – it has become stronger, and now the leaves of the trees around them are rustling. "Trouble just loves following us around, doesn't it?" Baekhyun grumbles, then walks a few steps forward to survey the area. Kyungsoo looks around them, then, craning his neck in an attempt to check the places nearby. There aren't any fallen trees in sight, but one of the electrical posts three blocks away teeters forward and crashes to the ground. The pavement around three, five meters away from them cracks. There's glass shattering from the building on the other side of the street.

"Another one–" Kyungsoo reaches out to pull Baekhyun away from the falling post and drags the two of them close to a phone booth. Baekhyun lets out a low grunt and mumbles something unintelligible against the material of Kyungsoo's shirt. Kyungsoo shivers – at the sudden rush of heat, at Baekhyun’s wet lips pressed to the skin just below his collarbone. At the fit of their bodies. So he parts his lips, asking, "What–" But soon he catches a bright blinking light from a corner of his eye, sees three messages from three different people popping up all at the same time.

"No, I don't think so," he whispers after a while, just loud enough for himself to hear. He loads the messages one by one, each of them containing a brief report on the situation in the area, some even with pictures – Sunyoung against a backdrop of a train colliding against the lobby of a building, her cheeks lined with bright red scars and wounds. People helping each other get out of the train before the fire at the other end of the bunk reaches theirs. The bunks engulfed in flames. He takes a deep breath, curling his fingers into a loose fist as he scrolls further down, navigating to Professor Kwon's message this time, and sees a map filled with red dots and triangles.

"Danger zones," comes Baekhyun's faint voice from behind. He points at a collection of red dots too close to each other and lets out a loud exhale. “It’s a miracle Sunyoung’s still alive. I mean, if the damage was _that bad_ according to the satellite then I can just imagine–“ And then Baekhyun’s wrapping his fingers around Kyungsoo's wrist, light enough that Kyungsoo won’t have to wrestle himself free from Baekhyun’s grasp, but just tight enough for him to feel the friction in the slide of their skin. Baekhyun taps a beat against Kyungsoo’s wrist and then he’s tightening his grip with every hitch of the breath, as the collective sound of murmurs and screams soon breaks out from a building nearby.

Kyungsoo turns around, dragging his left foot and transferring his weight onto it when he feels a numbing pain curl around his ankle. "Let's split. I'll take east the northern part of the river and you take south. I went around the area last night so I... won't get lost up there," he says. He places a hand atop Baekhyun's own, then, where Baekhyun is holding him tight. He can feel Baekhyun's pulse quicken, can feel the cool brush of the pads of Baekhyun's fingers against his skin, and it makes his insides turn. Makes him want to curl in on himself even more because Baekhyun is furrowing his eyebrows and shaking his head like he's saying, I just found you, Soo. Now you're going to walk away again and make me run after you?

Baekhyun gives his wrist a weak tug. Presses his thumb where Kyungsoo’s pulse on his wrist beats the strongest. "You're injured," Baekhyun argues. Kyungsoo drops his gaze to his feet, the bright red patch etched on his skin, just close to his ankle. It looks worse than it feels; Baekhyun’s burning touch, even more. "I can't let you go out on your own with a foot like that–"

"We have to make sure that people are safe,” Kyungsoo reasons. "It's our duty–"

"–to not get people killed. To make sure everyone's safe," Baekhyun mutters, reciting the lines like he's answering a set of questions too easy for him in class. Even without looking at Baekhyun, Kyungsoo can already tell that Baekhyun's nibbling on his bottom lip as he scours the surface for more words, for an ounce of control over his emotions, for a tinge of restraint. Baekhyun has always been good with masking most of his emotions; it's worry thay he finds difficult to wash away from his features, from the slump of his shoulders. So it doesn't surprise Kyungsoo when Baekhyun looks away and fixes his gaze on his feet pressed side to side, on the tips of his shoes, on the dust that has gathered on the surface of his sneakers. It doesn't surprise him when Baekhyun's grip loosens. And it doesn't surprise him when Baekhyun looks at him through the narrow slits of his bangs and whispers, "And that includes you, Soo. I can't leave you out here to die."

Kyungsoo feels something in his chest leap once, twice, _thrice,_ each three seconds apart. In between, the feels the heavy thrumming of Baekhyun’s pulse pressed to his skin. He shivers all over.

On a normal day in Sinyuki-ri, legs stretched out on the cooling sand and the waves of the sea just touching their toes, he'd nudge Baekhyun in his side. Laugh at him, even, and say, it's just a tiny quake too many miles away. You always worry about the silliest things. I thought _I_ was supposed to be the worrier? But it's not a normal day. There’s destruction all around them and there are people to be helped and Pokemon to be saved and a person right in front of him who’s parting his lips in search for the right words to say. All trace of laughter in Kyungsoo's throat, the air in his lungs dissipates at the sound of Baekhyun's words, at the soft and gentle brush of Baekhyun's thumb against his skin. At the way Baekhyun furrows and unfurrows and furrows his eyebrows again like he can’t decide what to say yet, can’t decide what to do.

"I won't die," Kyungsoo answers after a while, laughing a little. It sounds more like a wheeze, tastes like a sick mix of metal and blood in his mouth. It makes him wince. "I just twisted my ankle. Kirlia can teleport me from one place to another. Pelipper can take me wherever I have to be. I'm not–" He shakes his head and tries to pull away, but Baekhyun's grip is just strong enough to leave a dull ache on his skin when he tugs on the link of their limbs. "I'll live."

"I am _not_ letting you out of my sight, Soo," Baekhyun says, syllables spaced out like it's taking him every ounce of effort not to lash out at Kyungsoo, tell him that he's out of his mind for even thinking that he can walk away from his battle unscathed when he's walking right into the trap lugging around a twisted ankle. "Okay, so let's say you get to teleport people from one place to another. Kirlia gets really drained halfway through. You get Pelipper to help out. Heck, you send out _all the Pokemon in your team_ because you'd do that, right? Give everything you have to everyone and then laugh at yourself when you get yourself into trouble?" Baekhyun laughs, rough and bitter. He scoffs. Kyungsoo tries to shake Baekhyun off, tugs his arm closer to his body again, but Baekhyun just tightens his hold on Kyungsoo all the more. The slide of their limbs is hot, sticky. It burns. "What happens next? Tornadus attacks you again? Thundurus comes after you? Landorus just finishes–"

He shakes his head again like he can’t believe Kyungsoo’s even considering to go out to battle like this. Like he can’t believe he has to explain himself. Like he can’t believe that all these things are happening – the chaos unfolding in front of them, the quake still shaking up the ground. The three long inches between them that he can easily thin into a few quick breaths if Kyungsoo would allow him to him to pull him close. He breathes out, long and loud. And Kyungsoo takes a deep breath in response. "You're not a god, Kyungsoo. You can’t fight them alone. And y’know what? Neither can I. But, together, we’d make a pretty decent team. I mean–“ Baekhyun scratches the back of his head, laughing a little. It sounds richer this time, unlike the sound that had scratched his throat earlier. “We’re a team, remember? You said so, yourself."

Kyungsoo snorts. Bites the inside of his cheek, too, to keep himself from saying something he might regret. 'Team' doesn't mean leaving without a trace, doesn't mean disappearing at the first sight of dawn and taking the first train out of the city to avoid leaving any scars behind, he wants to say. It means working towards a common goal, knowing that someone will be there to aid you should you need assistance, not simply _hoping_ your teammate will be around to salvage whatever can still be fixed from your mistakes. _It doesn't work that way._ But the last thing Kyungsoo should be doing right now is being stubborn as fuck and refusing help when it's already being offered. By now, he knows when to turn on the teammate switch and when to switch it off. He knows how to navigate in the dark now even after he's bathed in light for the longest time.

"No disappearing this time around," he warns Baekhyun, index finger pointed at the latter. He cocks an eyebrow at Baekhyun when Baekhyun raises his palm, facing Kyungsoo. "If you do that, I will kick your sorry ass and you'll regret it forever."

Baekhyun lifts his eyebrows for a moment. A small smile crawls to the corners of his lips and tugs them up, lifts the fatigue from his features a little. "Nah, you won't do that," he says after a while, then winds his arm around Kyungsoo again. Their steps – _hobbling,_ Baekhyun insists to call it – are synchronized this time, a steady one-two rhythm as they try to avoid cracked roads and debris still falling from the tall buildings. Kyungsoo alternates between looking at the road and checking his Gear for news on Soojung's whereabouts, the status in Gangwon-do, any directions from Professor Kwon at all, but from time to time he sneaks glances at Baekhyun, checks for a trace of pain in Baekhyun's features, any sign of the desire to run off and leave because Kyungsoo's grip on Baekhyun's wrist keeps tightening. And Baekhyun easily feels choked by rough touches, desperate grips, a touch less impersonal than that of another trainer's or any of the Pokemon he's trained.

They manage to reach the Pokemon Center around the block in ten minutes. Baekhyun looks over his shoulder for a moment before leaving Kyungsoo in the trainer's quarters to check on the other trainers in the city, but still flashes Kyungsoo a v-sign and a grin before turning around to leave. "Twenty minutes, I promise," Kyungsoo remembers Baekhyun saying, but he doesn't count on it. Doesn't check the time every five minutes unlike how ten-year-old Do Kyungsoo would. Instead, he gets in touch with Soojung in Gyeonggi-do and Sunyoung in Gangwon-do, sends them information on the quake patterns that he manages to figure out with the help of one of Nurse Jinri's assistants, Seulgi. Reconnects with Professor Kwon, as well, and tells her that the gym hasn't been open the past week or two. "And this might be a stretch but that was around the time the genies started showing themselves to different trainers," he even says. He flips through the pages of his notebook and draws a line from where he'd written Seoul City Gym in big, bold characters down to the part where he'd scribbled information he got from the residents he interviewed last night. "It doesn't help that the residents keep mentioning something shady going on underground, or sometimes in the power plant. Everybody thinks the leader's up to something really bad. He only takes challenges once every quarter, four times a year."

Professor Kwon leans back against her seat and excuses herself for a moment to mumble something to one of her assistants. "That explains the low participation in the League. You'd expect trainers to try to use the challenge as a distraction, but–"

"We're all war victims, Professor," Kyungsoo answers. He bends his right knee and pulls his foot up, rubbing slow circles on the jut of the bone in his ankle. "It's not easy picking up a Pokeball again after seeing the same creatures punish you for depending on them too much."

She takes a deep breath and lets out a long sigh. "Valid point. I'm just wondering, though: if the leader really _has_ been neglecting his responsibilities both to the gym and to the people then why isn't the League sanctioning him for it? The previous gym leader of Gwangyang-si got kicked out for being away for three long months _without a word–_ " She gives her bottom lip a light pinch, then says, "Give me an hour. I just need to pull up a few records and contact some people."

 _Gwangyang leader,_ Kyungsoo scribbles on his notebook without taking his eyes off the screen. He nods at the professor, then adds _three months_ and _look for league penalties against irresponsible leadership?_ He underlines the last few words twice, then adds another question mark to the end. "I'll help Baekhyun with tracking the other trainers, then," he soon answers. "Could you send us a message before you phone in? We might have to reserve the back office again, just in case you–"

Professor Kwon laughs a little. "I like how you think," she mutters, then offers him a nod. "An hour at the most, that's all I need. Go–" She cocks her head forward and gives him a smile. "Help Baekhyun. There are at least a hundred trainers in Seoul at any point in time; he'll need all the help he gets."

 _He's_ the one who needs help keeping Baekhyun in place, keeping track of where Baekhyun is. He doesn't say a thing, though, just nods at Professor Kwon's figure fading into a thick sheet of black before the call ends. Finding his strength again, he pushes himself off the couch and gets back on two feet, taking slow and measured steps to the main area of the Pokemon Center, ready to help.

→

One hour stretches into three long hours. The Pokemon Center becomes packed with trainers just thirty minutes after the end of the call, with trainers cradling their injured Pokemon in their arms. Sometimes, it's the Pokemon that appear at the Center's doorstep, assisting its trainer, looking at Nurse Jinri with weary eyes as if saying, _please help out my friend. I can't lose him. Please, do everything you can–_ Two hours in and the Chansey and Blissey in the recovery areas begin to show signs of fatigue, so Kyungsoo sends out Kirlia and Grovyle, asks them to make food for the Pokemon and breathe a bit of life into the tireless workers. Baekhyun asks Ludicolo and Swablu, a new recruit for his team, to help the other Pokemon to the best of their ability. There are too many things going on that Kyungsoo almost forgets to check his PokeGear, almost doesn't see the way the light blinks at him in a bright, angry shade of red.

"Prof pinged me, said she got some info on the thing you two were talking about earlier?" Baekhyun tells him when they bump into each other in the hallway. Kyungsoo looks up, leans against the wall for a moment when he feels a dull ache in his ankle, then pushes himself back up. Baekhyun trails his gaze down Kyungsoo's leg, then, settling on the gentle swell of Kyungsoo's injured ankle. He frowns. "After this, get that checked. A swollen foot is not very cute."

Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at Baekhyun in response and bites the inside of his cheek. Groans under his breath, even, because looking cute with this injury is the last of his priorities. He shrugs that off, cracks his neck. Tells Baekhyun, "I'll... reply to her message in five minutes. I just have to get these to the trainer with the Tropius. The Sitrus potion isn't working anymore. I guess the burns damaged the Tropius more than it should."

Baekhyun grimaces. "How about the Lum serum? That should work."

Kyungsoo holds up the small cauldron he's holding and bends his knees a little, trying to steady himself when he stands straight again. "Made the serum much thicker and added more Lum berries. If this doesn't work then we might need one of those Enigma berries at the back." Only as a last resort, though, because Kyungsoo knows better than to make a concentrated Enigma berry serum. He can still remember Seungsoo warning him about it, telling him about that one Pokemon whose trainer fed it three Enigma berries. The Pokemon ended up falling comatose for an entire month, then just decomposed on its hospital bed. Too much power, that was what killed it. And it was for the same reason that the government ruled for berry plantations to pull out the Enigma berries from their fields. These days, it's almost impossible to find Enigma berries anywhere else but in a Pokemon Center berry field, and even then trainers would have to seek Nurse Jinri's permission and have her witness their berry picking just to make sure that they don't get too many. This is what the community has become – afraid, paranoid, crippled by fear. Living in the shadows of the war, terrified to step into the light where they'll be able to see the world better.

"Can you help me with this?" Kyungsoo mumbles, meeting Baekhyun in the eye. Baekhyun nods and complies without another word, holding one handle of the cauldron with both hands, eyes fixed on nothing, no one else but Kyungsoo.

Baekhyun remains quiet for the rest of the operation, moving from one trainer to another, asking if he still needs help, if her Pokemon has ever been given a specific medication, if Kyungsoo needs help on anything else. "Don't crouch. You're straining your ankle," he groans, then slaps Kyungsoo's hand away from where Kyungsoo has just finished helping the Tropius take a sip of the serum. He gets on his knees and rolls up his sleeves, then applies a liberal amount of the serum on his hands. He lathers it in light dabs on the cuts along Tropius' neck. "I'm done with my patients so just let me know how I can help," he mutters, voice just faint enough for only Kyungsoo to hear.

He means, this is the least I could do to help. I'm sorry for even thinking of leaving.

"Just keep doing that," Kyungsoo whispers in response after a while. He sits on the floor, then, legs folded to the side, and continues feeding the Tropius. "Easy on the serum. We'll need that later."

Baekhyun looks up for the briefest of moments, then he's back to applying the serum on Tropius' body. Kyungsoo snatches glances at Baekhyun from time to time, when opportunity allows, when Tropius doesn't retaliate and flail its wings around when the burns sting too much. He studies the shallow furrow of Baekhyun's eyebrows, the way Baekhyun winces at the same time that Tropius does, the way Baekhyun worries his bottom lip when Tropius whines, voice shrill and deafening. Kyungsoo shivers all over – from the sound, from the weight that falls on his feet when Tropius hits him with one wing, from Baekhyun's tight grip on his arm as he asks, "Whoa, dude, are you– Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Nothing–" Kyungsoo seethes. Acid creeps up his throat, leaves scars there that taste a lot like blood. And he can feel his pulse quickening. He tries to pull his foot from under the weight, but Baekhyun beats him to it. Scrambles to his feet and lifts the fallen wing, urging Kyungsoo to move away as soon as he can. Kyungsoo hits the foot of the couch, then, his injured ankle now free from the burgeoning weight of Tropius' wing, but nothing could've prepared him for Tropius losing control over its own limbs, for Tropius hitting Baekhyun on the cheek, his chest, both of his arms and even his shoulders with its wings on accident and letting out a loud wail as an apology. For Baekhyun to come crashing against him, Baekhyun's back to his chest, his injured ankle crushed beneath Baekhyun's weight.

"Argh, _fuck–_ " Baekhyun groans, but soon his speech gets muffled by a low groan and tiny packets of winces, heavy breathing, hiccups. Baekhyun's isn't bleeding, not yet, but his skin is peppered with bright red lines, his shirt ripped across his chest where Tropius has hit him earlier. And his shoulders are slumping back, along with the rest of his body, his whole weight pressed to Kyungsoo's body and wrapping him with warmth.

"He-help!" Kyungsoo calls out. He tries to get back to his feet, pulling Baekhyun up with him in accord, but all he succeeds in is ripping Baekhyun's shirt open all the more. "Someone carry him to– Help, please, my friend's bleeding–"

Kyungsoo hauls Baekhyun up as much as he can, holds both of them up as they get ushered to the nearest recovery room. His PokeGear is beeping and the red light hasn't stopped blinking the past hour and he's supposed to be figuring out why the gym leader of the city keeps disappearing. He's supposed to be working with Professor Kwon on this, supposed to be making sure Baekhyun's doing his job and helping trainers out instead of goofing around with them. He isn't supposed to be dragging Baekhyun to a patient's bed, isn't supposed to watch the nurses-in-training run their tests on Baekhyun and try to tend to his wounds. And his heart isn't supposed to be racing like this in his chest – loud, wild, thundering.

His knees aren't supposed to be weakening.

He should look away.

"I'll take care of the others," Nurse Jinri tells him. She signals at the two other nurses, gestures for them to come closer, tells them to assist Kyungsoo to the best of their ability if he ever needs anything. She gives his arm a gentle squeeze, then, and tries to offer a smile. Her lips are quivering, though. This Nurse Jinri might have not known them for a long time but then this is what trying to save lives does to you – it makes you a bit more sympathetic, a bit more emotional, a bit more vulnerable to everything else that's out there, just waiting to attack. "Stay. Don't leave him," she adds after a while, brushing Baekhyun's bangs away from his face with her fingers. "You two have been working hard the whole day. We can take care of the rest."

"You need your assistant, Nurse Jinri. I–" He looks to his side and fixes his gaze on Baekhyun. I can handle this, he was just about to say, but right now he isn't sure if he can even lay a finger on Baekhyun without thinking how he might break Baekhyun even more. He's tended to his Pokemon's wounds before at least fifty times already, sure, but it's different when you're trying to patch together someone human, much more a friend. It's difficult trying to stitch Baekhyun together, knowing that, in some ways, things will never be the same – he drives a needle through Baekhyun's skin and he'll leave marks there, leave scars, where he'd never touched Baekhyun before. He tends to Baekhyun's wounds and he knows he'll never be able to wash away the feeling of mapping out Baekhyun's skin with the light press of his fingers on Baekhyun's body. He saves Baekhyun right here, right now, and he knows he might not be able to save himself ever again.

"Just one thing," Kyungsoo says. He lifts his gaze to Nurse Jinri then licks his lips. His throat feels so tight and dry that even breathing feels like dropping chains down his throat and then pulling them back up. He shivers. "Can I ask for some berries? Sitrus, Lum, and Enigma – three of each. I'll just try–" He reaches over when he sees one of the nurses taking one of Baekhyun's arms and preparing to hook Baekhyun up to the IV. "Don't. He hates those. If he sees those when he wakes up, he'll flip. I'll take care of this."

Nurse Jinri hums. Kyungsoo shifts his gaze, then, looking at Nurse Jinri in the eye. Her lips are pulled up in a small smile, just a light curl at the corners that reaches her eyes. "Of course, you may. Joy, Seulgi, get him three of what he asked for," she says. Once the trainees have slipped from the room, she adds, "I don't... normally let trainers mix berries on their own, especially not with the Enigma berry, but I've seen you make potions and serums like you've been doing it all your life already–" She jerks back a little when Baekhyun shifts in his position, whining. Some of his hair falls on his face. Kyungsoo reaches out this time, brushes the stray strands from Baekhyun's face and wipes his thumb along a purple line flaunted on his cheek, a stain of the serum Baekhyun had been applying on Tropius earlier. "You're... You're a natural."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. He hiccups when Baekhyun moves again, a shift so subtle it doesn't tousle his hair anymore. "My brother's a Pokemon pharmacist. I watch him when he concocts his potions," he answers.

"Do Seungsoo? Is he your brother?" Nurse Jinri asks. "Because I thought you looked like him, as soon as you entered the Center. You're a carbon copy of him, from head to toe."

Kyungsoo blinks a few times. "You _know_ my brother?"

Nurse Jinri cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo for a moment, then shakes her head a little. She looks as if she wants to say something. _A lot of things,_ just that she can't find the words for them at the moment with the way she parts her lips then presses them closed _then_ parts them again. "Who doesn't?" she says after a while, as the two trainees return with a basket of the berries Kyungsoo had asked for. She stands up, spine snapping straight, and begins to walk towards the door. Kyungsoo follows her, gaze trained on her figure, and only when she stops short in her tracks and looks over her shoulder does he look away. "Your brother's the reason why we have Full Restores and Revives now, little Do," she tells him. She takes a deep breath, then adds, "He's the reason some of the Pokemon here in this country – no, in this _planet_ – who'd gone through the war are still alive."

Kyungsoo gulps hard. Seungsoo has never been too transparent about what he does. Kyungsoo just knows his brother treats Pokemon, finds ways to cure them of their diseases. That’s it. But for Seungsoo to gain world recognition, for Seungsoo to be recognized by so many people as a pharmacist who might just be the best in the world– He breathes out, laughing a little. He shakes his head. There was a time when he was much younger when he thought Seungsoo would be great at portraying a 'mad scientist' role. And maybe he's always been psychic – just scratch the 'mad' and replace it with 'good', and he'd have already made a pretty accurate prediction of his brother's future.

The door shuts closed behind the nurses and soon Kyungsoo hears nothing in the room but the soft crackling of the light. The white noise is thick in the air. The faint sound rings in his ears, plagues him for the next few seconds, and then Baekhyun's moving on the bed again. Baekhyun shifts, restricted by the wounds on his skin, but he keeps shifting and shaking like he's running from one place to another, looking for a place where he feels safe. And Baekhyun's mumbling something incoherent with the words 'save', 'help', and 'Kyungsoo' sandwiched between muffled sounds. The last syllable rolls off his tongue in a voice so faint he could have just been breathing. It makes Kyungsoo's body give a tiny jerk, makes the pulse at the back of his knees drum a beat too fast that he can't catch up with. Makes him slump against his seat and gasp for air.

Baekhyun's grip on the sheet tightens in his sleep, like he's wrapping his fingers around Kyungsoo's throat in an attempt to make him sputter the words he's always needed to hear from him. Kyungsoo chokes on his own spit, wheezes, coughs out the unsettling feeling.

He laughs. It's silly. Baekhyun isn't even touching him.

He mashes the berries in a bowl and prepares the medicine for Baekhyun in two batches – one for him to drink, and the other to apply on Baekhyun's wounds. Baekhyun twitches at the first touch of the cool liquid on one of the cuts, but for the most part he stays quiet, seething only when Kyungsoo applies a bit of pressure on the still healing skin. So Kyungsoo keeps his touch light, gently pushes the serum towards the open wounds only when he sees Baekhyun's figure slump back into the cushions of the bed. And he keeps a careful eye on Baekhyun, watching as the uneven heaving of Baekhyun's chest steadies into an easy rhythm that he finds himself humming to.

→

Five in the morning sees Kyungsoo stretching out on the chair he'd fallen asleep in. He blinks a few times, trying to refocus his vision and trying to make sense of how he ended up with his head rested on the side of Baekhyun's bed. The last thing he recalls doing last night is retreating to a corner of the room to talk with Professor Kwon about the case of the missing gym leader. He'd stayed up until twelve, maybe even one in the morning then, determined to pin down the possible reason behind the leader's disappearances throughout the year. From time to time, he'd crane his neck, check if Baekhyun hadn't fallen off yet because he moved a lot, but that was it. He can't even recall slipping from the room to grab a glass of water even if there are two on the bedside table.

"I thought you were going to sleep forever," comes a familiar voice, still thick with sleep and lethargy. It sounds a bit rough, unlike the bright tone Kyungsoo has gotten used to hearing the whole day despite the war wearing them out, pulling down at the corners of their lips. Kyungsoo looks up, then, winces when he hears his bones crack but laughing a little when the image of Baekhyun's face comes into focus. Baekhyun's slumped against the pillows and his hair sticks to his face. Some of the old scars on his face have been replaced with pimples. There's a smidgen of drool flaunted on a corner of his mouth all the way to his cheek, as well. There are marks on his skin from where the sheets have creased under his weight. And Baekhyun's fingers are slotted between Kyungsoo's own, a feeble fit that if Kyungsoo wants to pull away from then he only has to give his hand a light and lazy tug.

"How long have you been up?" Kyungsoo asks. Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows. Or at least that's how it looks, because from where Kyungsoo is he can't focus on anything but the gentle swell of Baekhyun's bottom lip, too red and plump. He can’t even feel the pads of his glasses on his nose. So he feels around for his glasses, stopping only when he feels cool fingers making him face forward with a gentle tug on his chin, when he sees a blurred image of Baekhyun leaning over a bit to push the glasses up the bridge of his nose. He shivers for a moment, chest constricting, so he clears his throat. Asks again when the tightness in his throat eases, "How long have _you_ been up?”. He drawls his syllables this time as if to accommodate, keeping in mind that they’ve just woken up, they’re still tired. It’s only five in the morning and they can sleep for another hour if they want to. He moves closer, examining Baekhyun's wounds or whatever's left of them, and smiles when he sees a few healing up fast. The two long cuts on his right arm have closed up considerably. The beginnings of a gash on his chest have now lifted. And the wounds on his legs aren't an angry shade of red anymore, taking on a kinder flesh now, drying up at the corners. "That's going to itch in a few hours. Don't scratch it."

"I know," Baekhyun grumbles, then kicks at nothing in particular. He hits Kyungsoo – on accident or on purpose, Kyungsoo can't tell at the moment. It's too early to be dissecting things, to be trying to understand every single thing going on. What does the gentle pout of Baekhyun's lips mean? Why is he smiling? Why is he pulling Kyungsoo's hand closer and resting it just a few inches shy of the small wound on his chest? Why is Kyungsoo curling in his toes and holding in his breath? Why do these things matter at all?

"Heard from Nurse Jinri that you... took care of me last night," Baekhyun mumbles after a while. Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk, reeling him back to this moment where the six long inches between them thins to a breath and a half. Baekhyun inhales, deep and noisy through his nose. The thumping in his chest grows stronger, louder. Kyungsoo can feel it in the light press of his sweaty palm on Baekhyun's skin, in the subtle motion at the base of Baekhyun's throat. He hasn't been staring; there are just these little things about Baekhyun that are difficult to ignore. "Said you're the one I should blame for all these muscle aches and the itchy wounds," he continues, laughing. "Because you wouldn't stop applying the serum thing on my wounds until you emptied the bowl out–"

Kyungsoo leans forward and raises a fist in Baekhyun's direction. Brings it close to Baekhyun's chest, too, before brushing it against Baekhyun's cheek as he whispers, _her words, not mine,_ but it comes out too faint that even he doesn’t catch it. Maybe he’d just muttered that at the back of his mind where all the truths reside. So instead, he says, "Does anything ache?" then unfurls his fingers. His nails graze against Baekhyun's skin. Baekhyun shivers, shoulders shaking as he closes his eyes, and when he opens his eyes again he looks at Kyungsoo through the narrow slits of his bangs. "Anything you want to blame me for?"

Baekhyun shakes his head. Worries his bottom lip, too, and shifts his gaze from Kyungsoo's eyes to the the bridge of his nose, down to the jut of his upper lip. Then he hangs his head low, dropping his gaze to white sheets bunched up on his thighs. Kyungsoo laughs a little. His throat still feels so tight and dry, though, like his body is reminding him of what happened last night – ploughing through the rough streets of Seoul with Baekhyun, propping himself up against a wall in an attempt to help those who have had it worse than them. Trying to help everyone but himself and ignoring the ache of his injured ankle up until he had to stay still and watch over Baekhyun. Staying up and just studying the steady rise and fall of Baekhyun’s chest until Baekhyun fell into a peaceful slumber. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun's _curling in on himself_ , cheeks flushing the most interesting shade of pink and lips quivering, but Baekhyun proves him wrong. Baekhyun grips him tighter and finds his other hand, rests his palm atop Kyungsoo's own and slides it further up until he's holding Kyungsoo by the wrist.

"Everything hurts," Baekhyun mumbles. The pulse in his palm quickens, taps a code of Kyungsoo's skin that he can't simply can't decipher at five in the morning, running only on two, three hours of sleep. "Kiss the pain away?"

Baekhyun's kidding, he knows that. He can see it in the curl of Baekhyun's lips, can read the challenge in the way Baekhyun's eyes crinkle as the smile pulling up a the corners of his mouth turns into a grin. His stomach still rebels against him, though, lurches and turns and tumbles. The pulse in his temples throbs, jolts him awake, enough to make him aware of the thinning distance between them. Kyungsoo grumbles, then, brings one fist to Baekhyun's cheek and draws a thicker line on his skin with his knuckles. Like he's scribbling there in the quickest way possible, you can't ask for something like that at the height of the war. You can't be this honest at five in the morning. And Kyungsoo can't be considering giving in only because it's too early to be thinking of anything at all. Five in the morning means pulling the covers over his head and snuggling against the pillows. Five in the morning means snoozing alarms and wishing, just wishing, with half of his consciousness, that the night would never end. Five in the morning means Baekhyun has just slipped out of the room and out of Kyungsoo's life again, like it's so easy to come back knocking on Kyungsoo's door and expect Kyungsoo to open it even before Baekhyun can introduce himself.

"Shut up," Kyungsoo whispers. He pulls his fist away, drops it close to his chest and splays his fingers on his thigh. He can still feel the way Baekhyun's cheeks trembled against his skin earlier, the way Baekhyun's voice, honeyed by the morning, wrapped around his fingers so tight he lost all the feeling in his arms soon after. Still, he waits for Baekhyun to laugh, waits for Baekhyun's shoulders to shake and for Baekhyun to sink back against the pillows and close his eyes again.

"I'll need to apply the ointment on your wounds again after breakfast," Kyungsoo says after a while. He stands from his seat, doesn't quite pull away yet until he feels Baekhyun's muscles shift against the snug fits of their hands. "You're still far from being fully recovered so you'll want to take it easy for the next twenty-four hours. Or maybe even forty-eight–"

"Why didn't you ever pursue Pokemon medicine?" Baekhyun asks, voice lilting. He pulls his shoulders back, humming when he hears them crack. Kyungsoo winces a little; he's never liked the sound of bones realigning, the sound of something getting crushed. "You'd have made a great doctor. You're good at making medicine and you're good at convincing people to take them. Heck, _you_ made me drink that bitter Oran juice before and–"

Kyungsoo hears his pulse quicken at the back of his ears. He didn't pursue medicine because Seungsoo was already doing it. He didn't want people telling him he was always following his brother around, always copying his brother. He didn't want to hear people talking about how Seungsoo was wasting his life away, looking over his younger brother in the little village back in the island. He didn't _need_ to hear it. He wasn't mimicking Seungsoo, after all; they just happened to share the same interests. Because it makes sense, doesn't it, for two people who have only each other to do everything to get one to like the other? Try to find something that will make them get along with each other and make life easier to live with each other around? Help each other get through some of the toughest times in life? They lost their parents even before the war; Kyungsoo's not about to sit around and wait for Seungsoo to drift away, sail to another shore, leave him there in tiny Sinyuk-ri where the waves were strong enough to carry things feeble enough as far away as possible from home.

"It's not something I see myself doing five, ten years from now," he answers. He clears his throat and straightens up. The gaps between his fingers feel cold. He curls his fingers in, then, shakes his fist open soon after, but to no avail. Heat's taking too long to settle back in, like Baekhyun had taken it all away when he let the link of their fingers come off. "Training's more dynamic, _fun._ It... exposes you to a lot of things you normally wouldn't do if you're just stuck in a lab the whole day."

" _Fun?_ You got into training to have fun?" Baekhyun snorts, almost cackles, but Kyungsoo hits him light on the arm before he can even say more. He avoids the wounds, though, presses a portion of his fist only on the parts not painted with blemishes. The five cuts along Baekhyun's arm have reduced to three, the other two just glowing a bright red on Baekhyun's skin. The one on Baekhyun's chest still looks fresh, but it's healed up considerably that Baekhyun isn't wincing with every sharp inhale. And the gash on Baekhyun's shoulders have dried up, black spots tracing a line from the base of Baekhyun's neck all the way down to his collarbones. "What the fuck– I'm _injured!_ You can't hit me like this– _Hey–_ "

Kyungsoo pulls away at the cracking of Baekhyun's voice, when the protests melt into bubbles of light laughter spilling from Baekhyun's lips. He furrows his eyebrows. Baekhyun has this weird look on his face where his lips are parted just so, quirked up at the corners but not quite smiling. It makes Kyungsoo's breath hitch, makes him take a step back when he feels his knees weaken a little. It's fatigue, he tells himself. It's always fatigue that screws him over and makes him feel these weird things–

Baekhyun tilts his head to the side. He squints, knits his eyebrows almost as if he's just found something wrong in Kyungsoo's features, on Kyungsoo's face. And then he's whispering _oh_ before leaning in close, stopping only when Kyungsoo lets out a long and breathy exhale against Baekhyun's nose. Baekhyun scrunches it and sticks out his tongue in thoughtless retaliation. Kyungsoo feels his thighs shake. What are you doing, he wants to ask, but Baekhyun steals all of his words again when he reaches up, cupping one of Kyungsoo's his cheeks with his hand and brushing something off of a corner of Kyungsoo's mouth with the other. Baekhyun groans, frowns, brushes his thumb against the same spot again and again like he's made it his mission to wipe off whatever scars Kyungsoo has on his face. But _this_ is how Baekhyun leaves scars on people – by keeping his gaze, soft, too gentle, on the giving bow of Kyungsoo's lips, by pulling Kyungsoo closer by the chin with the light tug of his fingers. By stopping when they come too close, each of them a breath, a decision away.

Baekhyun lets his face fall forward, forehead bumping against Kyungsoo's own. Kyungsoo shuts his eyes, balling his hands into fists. He breathes out a long and loud exhale. "It's just ink, in case you were wondering," Baekhyun murmurs, hot breath tickling the tip of Kyungsoo's nose. Or at least that's what Kyungsoo thinks he just heard. It's becoming increasingly difficult to think, let alone breathe with the very little space between them. It's five in the morning and his torso is caught in a weird twist from when Baekhyun had puled him closer. And it hurts. He can be kissing Baekhyun now to ease the pain, to let their bodies find a comfortable fit. He can just submit to whatever urge has been brewing inside him since Baekhyun started touching him, the slow simmer coming to a boil. But he doesn't. Baekhyun isn't one of those problems he can plot steps to solve. He can't just _plan_ things with Baekhyun; he has to be prepared to change his plans at the very last minute. At any given time, has to be able to adapt to the loss of the warmth he's become used to waking up to, wrapped around his body, because what if Baekhyun leaves again? What if Baekhyun decides to pull away with an easy smile and say, in his bright and obnoxious voice, dude, I was just kidding. You should see the look on your face. You looked as if you were _so afraid to lose me–_

"I'll... get to removing it later," Kyungsoo mumbles. He inches away but Baekhyun shakes his head, pulls him even closer. Here he is again, at gunpoint, where his resolve weakens and his desire to just lose control gets the better of him. This is life's testing him, asking, will you give in or will you give up? You're in trouble, Kyungsoo; what are you going to do now? It's too early to be thinking straight, to try to come up with answers to questions he's long been putting off addressing. So instead of answering the voice at the back of his head, he tells Baekhyun, "I need to check my Pokemon. Grovyle always wakes up early. Sableye never sleeps. They might need me–"

"They're alright. I checked earlier," Baekhyun whispers. "An hour ago. I woke up an hour ago."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath. Baekhyun hums. Kyungsoo can feel the vibrations on his skin, through the thrumming pulse in Baekhyun's thumb that's pressed to his chin.

"Glad the nurses didn't hook me to IVs, really," Baekhyun continues after a while, chuckling as he shifts in his position a little. He doesn't inch away, doesn't lean back against the pillows yet, even if he seethes at the slightest brush of the blanket against some of his wounds. He stays there, in the awkward link of their bodies. And Kyungsoo would push him away or maybe back down on his bed, but then Baekhyun is injured. Baekhyun doesn't like feeling incapable of doing what everyone else can. Baekhyun's vulnerable right now, explosive; and Kyungsoo knows better than to walk right into Baekhyun's trap and set themselves on fire. "Though the nurses kinda panicked when they saw me walking around not bandaged when some of my wounds were still sorta open–"

"They'll heal up by the end of today," Kyungsoo mutters. Baekhyun snorts, laughs a little, the bright sound of his laughter broken only by a low groan when he stretches out his legs beneath the blankets. "Stop moving around so much, geez–"

"Then come closer," Baekhyun says, voice so soft he could have been whispering. He worries his bottom then looks up, leans back. The smile on his lips is just as soft, delicate. _Troublesome._ A familiar heat crawls up Kyungsoo's spine and makes him shiver. "If you want me to stop moving around so much then come closer."

Kyungsoo hovers for a moment and gulps hard. Don't, says a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind. Don't make reckless decisions at five, six in the morning. Don't even think of giving in. There's a time and place for everything; this isn't what they should be doing now. But when _is_ the right time? There's a war unfolding right before their eyes and they're living on a timer that resets everytime they take a breath. Kyungsoo can be blinking right now and then falling to his knees the next.

Stop living in fear, he tells himself. The world doesn't need a warrior whose only weapons are logic and the shackles of the war that was. So Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, risks one last glance at Baekhyun and leans in takes a whiff of the sweet scent of berries on Baekhyun's skin. And a trace of smoke, probably from when they'd been exposed to the explosions. He stays there as Baekhyun rubs on his cheek, as Baekhyun drops his gaze to his lips from time to time, as Baekhyun licks the corners of his mouth and smiles soon after. Kyungsoo can only scrunch his nose in response, not even in retaliation. _It’s just ink,_ he hears a voice at the back of his mind say. _It’s just ink, Soo. No need to flinch away._

“Don’t move around too much,” Baekhyun mutters. Kyungsoo nods without another word. “ _Stay still._ "

Baekhyun shudders for a moment, his shoulders shaking when Kyungsoo pulls away. He doesn't chase after Kyungsoo this time, doesn't grab Kyungsoo to reel him back in, but he does keep a careful eye on Kyungsoo – the twist of his body, the stretch of his limbs, the movement of his hands when Kyungsoo reaches for the container on the bedside table. "No, not the serum again," Baekhyun groans, stretches his legs out to hit Kyungsoo wherever his feet reach. "I mean it's not that awful but it's _medicine_ and you know I hate drinking medicine–"

Kyungsoo snorts. "It's for your own good."

"You don't know what's good for me."

"Oh?" Kyungsoo scoffs. He pulls off the lid of the container, throwing Baekhyun a glance from time to time. The weird tension in Baekhyun's muscles has lifted, now turning into something more relaxed, more natural. More... Baekhyun. He's propped himself the pillows and he's watching Kyungsoo's every move with a frown on his lips, one that tugs up at the corners even more with each passing second. So Kyungsoo counts from ten, counts down the seconds until Baekhyun's lips quirk up again.

Baekhyun's never been good at letting negativity show, after all. He's always determined to show everyone his best face, the best possible Baekhyun he can ever be.

 _Fifteen seconds,_ Kyungsoo notes when he looks up from where he's been beating the mixture, trying to get it to a nice consistency again after he'd just set it aside last night. Without the use of other chemicals to help the nutrients of the berries stick together, it's more difficult to try to get the serum to a good blend without giving up a consistency that's easy to gulp down. Baekhyun seems to understand, with the way he's wearing his lips in a thin line now. Sort of like he's given up on trying to keep Kyungsoo at a safe distance, trying to look away from the thick liquid in the container.

"You know what's good for me? _Candy,_ " Baekhyun says just before Kyungsoo takes a nice, big scoop of the serum with a tablespoon. He grins up at Kyungsoo, but his lips quiver and tug down as soon as Kyungsoo brings the tablespoon to his lips. " _Evil,_ " he mutters, then presses his lips together in a thin, thin line. Shakes his head, as well, as if saying, you'll have to try harder than that to feed me medicine.

You're impossible, half of Kyungsoo wants to say. The other half is screaming, to himself, why do you keep making these weird, spontaneous decisions? What happened to the man of strong resolve? Whatever happened to the Do Kyungsoo who had every ounce of control over every single part of his body? He was able to isolate his feelings before, trap it in a vessel inside of him and forget it existed. So _why_ can’t he do the same so he can live a much more peaceful life?

You're just doing your job, he tells himself, again and again until he hears nothing in his ears but the sound of his own voice saying those words. He started making serum for people, to help mend their wounds, and he did the same for Baekhyun. There’s no reason to not finish what he started. So he takes on the challenge, works harder, swallows hard and pushes the voices to the back of his throat so he can correct Baekhyun, whispering, "Sinister."

Baekhyun giggles, laughs with his shoulders and limbs and the shake of his head, but without a tinge of a sound. Kyungsoo takes this as an opportunity, then, moving even closer until Baekhyun's knee rams into his side. The fit is awkward, hurts a bit when Baekhyun begins to shift and digs his bone into Kyungsoo’s side, but from where Kyungsoo is he can reach over easier to trace the curve of Baekhyun's face. His nails graze Baekhyun's skin and he can feel the pull, can feel the beginnings of pain in his fingers where skin and nail meet, but his hands grow cold. And then he's losing the feeling in his fingers. The tablespoon in his other hand is still firmly in place, slotted between the gentle swell of Baekhyun's lips, but if he so much as loosens his grip on the spoon then he might just waste a good amount of serum because of his lack of control.

He tilts Baekhyun's chin up. Baekhyun meets his gaze. There's an inch of uncertainty there, in the way Baekhyun peers from the messy curls pressed to his forehead and covering his eyes a bit, in the way a corner of his lips keeps tugging up and down then up again. Almost as if he's trying to say something but can't seem to find the right words yet, as if he's still trying to scratch the surface even as Kyungsoo gently tilts his face up so Kyungsoo can feed him better. But there's nothing written between the lines here, nothing scrawled on the two long inches between them. Nothing, despite the shaking of Kyungsoo's hand when Baekhyun parts his lips in submission, despite Baekhyun darting out his tongue to catch the stray droplet spilling from a corner of his lips when Kyungsoo's hand gives a tiny jerk.

"You missed a spot," Kyungsoo whispers. Swallowing hard, he brushes his thumb along the wet corner of Baekhyun's lips and stiffens when Baekhyun wraps his lips around his thumb. What are you, a baby or something, he wants to ask, but before he even feels his throat again Baekhyun pulls away, shifting his gaze elsewhere and muttering, 'another'.

 _Right._ Three tablespoons, that's the standard prescription. Kyungsoo lifts the lid again and takes another spoonful, his hand steady this time. Inside, his stomach turns and lurches. He shrugs that feeling off, pushes it away.

Baekhyun falls asleep around ten minutes after he's taken his medicine. "He woke up at half past three. He couldn't go back to sleep since then," Nurse Jinri tells Kyungsoo when they meet at the lobby. She rolls up her sleeves, pushing them up until they bunch at her elbows. There are three trays of Pokeballs just beside her, each tray containing a full party of six. No scratches on the Pokeballs; maybe these are from trainers who'd decided to start fresh after yesterday's chaos. Life goes on, after all; lamenting over the loss of a Pokemon won't bring them back or earn you badges. "He checked on his Pokemon and yours, even stayed at the recovery area to watch over Grovyle and Sableye when they started twitching and shifting too much in their sleep," she adds. "He understands Pokemon more than he gives himself credit for, to be honest."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. There's a dull ache in his ribs, possibly from Baekhyun almost kicking him earlier after taking the second tablespoon of the serum. He massages the area, just soft, barely-there touches and rubs of the thumb as he cracks his neck. "He's not too big on getting praised. Just give him food whenever you feel like telling him he's doing a good job," he explains. "That always works."

Nurse Jinri furrows her eyebrows. "You make him sound like a dog."

"Close enough," Kyungsoo replies. He presses down on the aching area a bit too hard and shuts his eyes tight. "How are the other Pokemon?"

Kyungsoo takes a tour around the three recovery areas in Seoul's main Pokemon Center. The Pokemon that didn't suffer much from yesterday's earthquake were already discharged, along with their trainers who didn't sustain injuries. The Tropius he took care of yesterday is still hooked to the machines, but at least its condition has stabilized. "I think he still needs some of the serum. I'll go make more after breakfast," Kyungsoo tells Nurse Jinri, and Nurse Jinri nods in response. "Do we have enough Enigma berries to treat the others with?"

"We can use an extender– _ow–_ " comes a familiar voice from the hallway. Kyungsoo shifts his gaze, then, and frowns when he sees Baekhyun hobbling down the stretch of the path. He's still decked in the robes the nurses have made him slip into last night, but he has a beanie pulled over his head now. Kyungsoo laughs; trust Baekhyun to still give a shit about looking in tip-top shape and fully recovered in front of the patients who saw him take too many blows to his body last night. "If there are Nomel berries in the back then we can use those. Otherwise, we can settle for Pinap berries. They grow fast, too; if these kids need maintenance serum then we can make... something like a litre every hour."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows. "I'm not mixing those berries with you. The machines are still down. Seoul's running on limited electricity."

Baekhyun scrunches his nose. Hobbles a bit closer, too, until Kyungsoo walks over and meets him halfway through. He mutters a soft 'thanks' under his breath, gripping Kyungsoo tight by the arms as Kyungsoo helps him get settled on the couch nearby. He doesn't take a seat, though, just leans against the wall and turns to look at Professor Kwon. "Kinda funny, actually, since we have the electric gym here– _Oh._ "

Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him. The 'oh' can mean a number of things, all of which aren't things they'd like to let the other trainers in the recovery area hear – _oh,_ that gym leader who keeps disappearing at inopportune times. _Oh,_ the gym leader who hasn't been around the past two weeks and hasn't even appointed anyone to look over the city in his absence. _Oh,_ all the things the residents keep saying about the gym, itself, that beneath the solid ground lies some hideout for something they can't quite figure out yet.

"I won't be surprised if that's true," he recalls Professor Kwon saying last night. He looked up from where he was writing down items he and the professor had just discussed. "You have a gym right beside a power plant that practically sustains the life of the people in the city. The gym leader is the most important authority in the city and the executive power has been bestowed upon him by the League. Take light and guidance away from the people away and what will they think? 'He must be up to some shady shit, maybe he's taking all our money. _Maybe he's building some secret something and working towards conquering the whole country–_ '"

Nurse Jinri rests a hand flat on Kyungsoo's shoulder. "I've scheduled a call with the professor at ten. We can regroup before that to–" She shifts her gaze between them, then makes the corners of her lips curl up when one of the trainers waves a few feet away. He can feel her fingers stiffen, can feel the pads of her fingers grow cold for a split second. She clears her throat then she's back, thawing out and smiling at the approaching trainer. "–discuss certain matters– Jisung, right? The Oran berries you asked for are with Joy. Joy, can you please– Yes, just guide him to the kitchen. _Thank you._ "

Baekhyun looks up from where he's been fixing the knot of his robe, then grips Kyungsoo's arm tight as he balances himself on two feet. "I'll just ask Ludicolo to whip up something for us. We should get to replenishing the serum supply. When these Pokemon wake up, they'll be feeling sore as fuck."

Kyungsoo nods. Rests his hand atop Baekhyun's own as well, and gives Baekhyun's hand a light squeeze. Baekhyun's fingers tremble for a bit, then they're flat on Kyungsoo's skin and Kyungsoo can feel Baekhyun's pulse playing a funny beat in the press of their bodies. "You take care of peeling the berries. I'll do the proportions and mixing," he says, looking up at Baekhyun, then walks away without another word. The link of their hands comes off with a light tug. His hand feels heavier, though, Kyungsoo muses. Heavier and colder without the sticky slide of Baekhyun's skin against his.

"You're punishing me!" Baekhyun calls out after him. He pauses in his steps but doesn't look over his shoulder, doesn't dig another hole for him to get stuck in for another hour or two. "I'm _injured!_ Why are you making me peel things–"

Because it's a sure way to keep Baekhyun's hands off his skin, a way to make sure that Baekhyun doesn't reach out all of a sudden to tuck stray strands of hair behind Kyungsoo's ear or maybe even to brush something off the corners of Kyungsoo's mouth.

Berry peeling isn't such a chore, though, not with Grovyle and Baekhyun's Pikachu around. “Still can’t believe you caught a Pikachu," Kyungsoo mumbles as soon as Pikachu comes out of its capsule, waving its tail around and stretching its stubby little arms to wake itself up. The tip of Pikachu's tail hits his calf, but it doesn't hurt. Not yet, at least, because soon Kyungsoo feels a sharp pain shoot up the back of his leg. "You didn't teach it to use Iron Tail on anyone as soon as it comes out of its ball, did you?"

"Well," Baekhyun singsongs, voice lilting and head swaying from side to side as he finishes peeling another Nomel berry. He sets it on the pile of the berries to be crushed later for the serum and not for the Pokemon's snack later. Well _what,_ Kyungsoo almost asks, but Baekhyun beats him to it, hums an answer before picking up another Nomel berry. "Let's just say he has a mind of his own. He does all sorts of weird tricks before firing off attacks. Can get pretty troublesome sometimes, but _eh._ "

"'Guess Pelipper's not alone anymore," Kyungsoo mutters. He slaps Baekhyun's hand when Baekhyun starts peeling towards himself. "The skin's not thick enough for you to have to do that. You'll just harm yourself in the process."

Baekhyun looks up from where he's been frowning at the berry, a corner of his mouth now pulled up, reaching his eyes. Half of his face still looks as if it's taking time to catch up, as if it's still deciding if it should just go with the flow, give in to whatever look Baekhyun wants to fashion at the moment. "You're worried about me?" Baekhyun asks then does that swaying motion again, the same movement that almost got him into trouble earlier because he almost bumped into Grovyle while the Pokemon was sharpening the leaf blades on its arms. "Twenty years, Soo – I had to wait for _twenty years_ for you to actually show concern for me. _Twenty years!_ "

"Don't exaggerate," Kyungsoo begins, mumbling. He grinds his teeth, seethes when the sound reaches his ears and makes him shiver. You never had to wait for anything, he wants to say, wants to _correct_ Baekhyun because he hates it whenever people get timelines wrong, but that's as good as admitting that yes, this is concern. This is Do Kyungsoo letting Byun Baekhyun have a peek at Kyungsoo's emotions all folded and stacked neatly in a small box. This is him dropping his hands to his sides because he's tired of holding up all those walls of defense he's built around himself all these years. This is him giving up and just... letting things happen. To hell if it's not in the plan; he'll fit it in somehow. So he doesn't utter a word, just keeps his eyes on Baekhyun's hand as Baekhyun adjusts his grips on the paring knife and keep his gaze away from the jut of Baekhyun's bottom lip.

Except Baekhyun's licking his lips and Kyungsoo isn't trying to find ways _at all_ to peek at Baekhyun through the slits of his bangs. He isn't trying to marvel at the swift flicking motion Baekhyun's tongue makes, or the way his insides turn as Baekhyun bites on his lower lip. And Baekhyun's still holding the knife wrong. He's been peeling Nomel berries for a good ten minutes already but he just keeps screwing things up, keeps messing with Kyungsoo's mind and the schedule has made for them to follow.

"You know what? Drop it. _Stop peeling–_ " Kyungsoo reaches over with his foot and hooks his ankle on Baekhyun's leg – so that he can pull Baekhyun close or so that he can close the distance between them in one swift move, he can't tell yet. There's a difference. He doesn't dwell on that right now, just pries the knife free of Baekhyun's grasp and sets it down on the table beside him. "Go check if Ludicolo needs help on the breakfast or something. Just– Don't hold anything sharp. I don't trust you with blades–"

The sound of something being wrestled out of the keyhole, then the click of the knob. He furrows his eyebrows for a while and looks over his shoulder, checking who the newcomer is. He's good with images, _visuals,_ rhythm and sounds, and these steps he's never heard before. Nurse Jinri's steps are calculated and spaced out, each three seconds of each other even when she's trying to hasten. The assistants' footsteps are the same, except a bit more hurried. Two steps for every single step Nurse Jinri takes. Soojung's is heavy, quick, like the opening beats of a rock song. And Sunyoung's is a steady one-two, one-two, an easy enough rhythm that Kyungsoo can fall asleep to if he wants to.

Baekhyun makes no sound when he's walking, tries to make his steps as light and as quiet as possible. "So that I don't wake anyone up," Kyungsoo remembers Baekhyun reasoning before. Perhaps Baekhyun meant, so I don't end up hurting myself if anyone tries to keep me from leaving.

And then there's the sound of Nurse Jinri's footsteps catching up with the foreign sound. The way the corridors are built here magnify any and all sounds echoing through them, makes the slightest squeak of the shoes against the floor the most deafening sound. Kyungsoo shivers when he hears the shuffling of shoes, the way the rubber drags along the floor. From a corner of his eye, he sees Baekhyun wincing.

"It's great that you could come over– Oh, how _is_ Gangwon-do?" comes a more familiar voice now. Nurse Jinri, is it? Kyungsoo yawns a little, trying to ease the tightness in his ears until they pop. The lady giggles. It _is_ Nurse Jinri. He looks up at Baekhyun, then, cocks an eyebrow at him as if saying, fix your shirt, you look silly with the way it almost falls off your shoulder. The marks near your collarbones would be more attractive if–

"Professor Kwon wanted to just send the two over but I told her all the roads were blocked. So she finally agreed to my offer." The man laughs. The door swings open, then, and in comes a man... who doesn't look much taller than they do. The way he holds his head up high makes him seem much taller, though, much more daunting than the light press of Nurse Jinri's hand on his arm. "Though the trainers could have also just flown to Chuncheon-si– Oh, hello."

Kyungsoo stands from his seat and offers the man a bow as soon as he enters the room. Baekhyun doesn't stand, simply bows in acknowledgement of the man's presence, then points at the huge cut along his lower leg. " _Nasty,_ " the man whispers, then looks at Nurse Jinri as he asks, "Was that caused by the earthquake yesterday?"

"Yes, and no," Nurse Jinri answers. She drops her hand to her side, but tilts her head in Kyungsoo and Baekhyun's direction as if telling the man, you're supposed to be here for them, remember? "He should be able to answer you. Minseok-op– Kim Minseok-ssi, this is Byun Baekhyun, the injured kid." When she shifts her gaze to Kyungsoo, she says, "And this is Do Kyungsoo. He... developed the serum Professor Kwon was talking about."

"The one who made use of the Enigma berry?"

Nurse Jinri nods. "The one and only."

Kyungsoo peers through his bangs, half of his body still caught in a weird twist of his torso, but none of his muscles hurt. His limbs are relaxed, almost as if he's released every bit of strain that has made a home in his body with every stroke of the peeler, with every inch of the berry's skin that he peeled off earlier in preparation for the massive serum-making later. And the man looks familiar. He looks familiar enough that the name 'Kim Minseok' sounds like something his brother had mentioned before, either on their way to Mokpo-si or during one of their last fishing expeditions back in Sinyuk-ri.

Minseok hums. "Kim Minseok," he says, then, and extends his hand in Kyungsoo's direction. Kyungsoo takes it, gives it a light shake, then motions to pull away, but Minseok's grip on his hand is too tight that he feels nothing but friction when he tries to withdraw his hand. "I guess it runs in the family, making medicine for Pokemon."

"You _know_ Seungsoo-hyung?" Baekhyun whispers, echoing Kyungsoo's thoughts. Kyungsoo shoots him a glance, narrows one eye at him as if saying, there's a time and place for snooping around for information but _not now–_ "I'm sorry, I was just– Either people know Seungsoo-hyung or my hyung and we don't even know what they were up to before we had to move–"

"Hah. Baekbeom wasn't kidding when he said you talked a lot." Minseok gives Kyungsoo a curt nod before letting go of his hand, then moves over to where Baekhyun is. "I've only seen the two of you in pictures but you look exactly like your brothers," he adds, then looks over his shoulder to where Nurse Jinri is. "I could've welcomed them to Chuncheon-si through the border even with all these people flocking the place. I'd be able to pick them out. The resemblance is too difficult to ignore."

 _Resemblance._ Kyungsoo lets out a long exhale. The word leaves a bit of room for originality, for experimentation. Kyungsoo doesn't have to follow his brother's footsteps down to the last detail; he can be good at making potions and serums and still be good at raising Pokemon. The thought comforts him a bit, stills the lurching of his stomach and makes him breathe easier.

Kim Minseok, they find out much later during the call with Professor Kwon, is the leader of the Chuncheon City Gym. "Ice-types are my specialty," Minseok mentions, then lets out a faint laugh. "Though recently I think I've been specializing more in steel-types. The ice-types haven't been coming out of the cave recently. They're... not used to the humid weather outside. It's been hotter the past month than it has ever been in years," he explains. He leans back in his seat and looks at Professor Kwon briefly as if asking, is this my cue to stop or do you want me to go on? Professor Kwon just nods in response. "So I've been trying to help the Pokemon adjust. It think a few more days of temperature endurance training should do the trick. The only thing I have to worry about now is the steel-types." He clasps his hands together. "There's been too many of them recently, they've been scaring the ice-types into hiding. They used to live so peacefully elsewhere."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows and shifts in his seat, facing Minseok now. "Most of the steel-types in the country reside in Odaesan, right? South east of Chuncheon-si?" he asks.

He remembers studying a map with Seungsoo before with markers indicating where you can find an abundance of a certain Pokemon type. "Water-types swim around Sinyuk-ri, close to Jeollnam-do," Seungsoo would tell him. "And then when you swim towards Jindo-ri, what will you find?"

"Dragons!" Kyungsoo would answer. Then he'd map out the types up until he reached the north, passing Daejeon-si that was known for its poison-types and Seoul that was known for the electric-types surrounding the area. "And then steel for– Yah, hyung–" He'd draw a line around Chuncheon-si and draw squiggles to where Odaesan was. Gangneung-si, where the ground-type gym was, was close by. It made a bit of sense because Seoraksan was close to the city, but– "Hyung, the Chuncheon City Gym is an ice-type gym, right? How come the mountain near it has lots of steel-types and not ice-types?"

"Well, sometimes certain types can live in harmony. Like... electric and grass-types, they're an okay tandem," he recalls Seungsoo telling him. He must have squinted at Seungsoo that time; the electric and grass synchronization didn't make sense. "And, well, ice is weak to steel but since both the trainers and the Pokemon are working hard to maintain peace and not overstep each other's territory, the ice and steel-types aren't at war with each other. They can even work with each other to battle the rock and ground-types!"

Minseok nods at him now and tightens the fit of his hands. "70% of all steel-types live in Odaesan. But it was an even 50-50 before for steel and ice-types in the mountain, if you're talking about distribution. That was a week or two ago, before the phenomenon began." Minseok stretches out his legs, then, wincing a little once he hits his limit. "It's exactly why we have rangers policing the area, making sure that the ground and fire-types don't end up in a mountain filled with ice and steel-types that will just... be driven off by the other two types. It's the least we can do to maintain order and peace in the mountain when the Pokemon keep sending help over even without us asking."

"What... happened when the earthquake broke, by the way?" Baekhyun asks. He moves to his side when Ludicolo walks inside the room, making space for itself beside its trainer. Minseok cocks an eyebrow at him for a moment, like he's waiting to see if Baekhyun will summon his Pokemon back to its Pokeball, but then Ludicolo isn't the type of Pokemon who would enjoy being contained in a capsule. Besides, this is the least Baekhyun can do after asking his Pokemon to take care of breakfast for both his Pokemon and for other trainers. Ludicolo was more than happy to oblige, but then Pokemon are supposed to help make life easier, not alleviate their trainer of duties. Kyungsoo gets it, the weird, unsettling feeling that must be lurking at the pit of Baekhyun's stomach. "Did the Pokemon in Odaesan– I'd imagine the Pokemon panicked or something and maybe some types overpowered the others, but–"

"You're right. The steel-types scared the ice-types away. But then the ground-types from the other side of the mountain, the one closer to Gangneung-si, attacked the steels," Minseok replies after a while. He presses his lips in a thin line, but the corners of his mouth still tug up like stimulus. Maybe this is years of practice at work, Kyungsoo muses. Maybe Minseok has forged himself to be the kind of person who would remain startlingly still in the face of chaos. Cold as ice, tough as steel, weak only to the comforting warmth that his Pokemon brings. "Right now, my junior trainers are trying to fix things back in Chuncheon-si, some of them even working with Gangneung-si's leader. Though the priority right now is to find the Lake Guardians." Minseok lets out a loud exhale. "It will be easier to work on restoring the region with the Guardians around. And they would have protected the region from harm, if they hadn't been scared off. The Guardians wouldn't have left for no reason."

"And that's where you two come in," Professor Kwon says. Baekhyun's eyes shoot up, quickly fixing on Professor Kwon's face on the display. It's almost as if he'd been flushed with a breath of life, his eyes glinting in the dim lighting of the room. "I'm not sure if Kyungsoo has shared with you what we've talked about last night while you were snoring in the background, but we're trying to pin down the location of the Seoul's gym leader. A couple of reports came in just this morning that the leader – Kim Jongdae, was that–" Professor Kwon looks over her shoulder, reaching for a couple of papers from a table nearby. "Here, this is what the leader looks like."

She brings the sheet of paper closer to the camera for everyone to study. "Ah, that weird guy. Nice and smiley, but he's been so withdrawn for as long as I can remember," Minseok comments, then inches closer as he squints. "And yes, his name is Kim Jongdae," he affirms, then leans back a little almost as if to get a better glimpse of the whole picture, the situation. "During League meetings he hardly talked to people. Kept to himself, for the most part, except for when he was talking with Pohang-si's leader. A weird pair, those two." His voice trails off after a while as he pulls out a device from his pocket. It looks like a PokeGear, except bigger and taking the form of a tablet. "The other leaders never got the chance to interact with them, either. They weren't even around that much during brunches."

Professor Kwon pulls the paper down, revealing the startled expression on her face. She has an eyebrow cocked, a corner of her lips pulled up. "They passed up on League brunch? _Wow,_ definitely weird, then," she tells Minseok. Minseok nods, shrugs, laughs a little, but says nothing more. Only stays quiet long enough that Professor Kwon decides to take over filling the silence with her own words. "Aside from food during League brunches being the best meals ever, you'll want to stay and socialize during those lunch meetings," she continues, turning her gaze to Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. "That's where most of the magic happens because the gym leaders give the Elite Four information on any promising trainers they've found in their area. Only then do the trainers stand the chance to be promoted from your classic trainer to junior trainers to the gym leader _and_ get the chance to become gym leader."

"And then the League elects a leader for the city from the pool of junior trainers," Kyungsoo mutters. From a corner of his eye, he sees Baekhyun's lips falling open into a small 'o', sees the slow and calculated bobbing of Baekhyun's head. "So the question now is–"

"Who got him inside?" Minseok says, voice dropping to a whisper. He worries his bottom lip, gaze shifting from the left to the right and then center like he's _looking for something_ ; he just doesn't know where to start. "Only a few League members got through the war. Joonmyun and I were one of them. Jinki was a junior trainer that time, but only because Yunho-hyung felt Jinki wasn't fully ready to take on the executive responsibilities of being a gym leader. Other than the three of us–" He shakes his head. "Nobody ever mentioned him before. I'd know, Kwon, you know I remember these things."

 _Kwon?_ Kyungsoo tilts his head to the side. Baekhyun seems to have picked up on it, as well, a soft 'oh' spilling from his lips as a smile creeps to its corners. But there isn't much time to study things right now, not with Professor Kwon's eyes locked and heavy on Minseok's own. There's a story here somewhere, in the way Professor Kwon thins her lips into straight line, in the way the muscles of her cheeks tense. In the way Minseok holds her gaze, doesn't blink, the only visible movement inside him the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Professor Kwon laughs a little. "How did Joonmyun get in?” she asks, humming. She could be teasing Minseok, maybe even testing him. Kyungsoo can't tell at the moment. He's never seen Professor Kwon without the veil of professionalism separating them. She's always been serious, cracking jokes with a straight face. Heck, the most vulnerability she'd shown was calling Soojung every few minutes to check on her status, if she'd already gotten from Tokchok Islands to Pyeongtaek-si. That was it. All other times, Professor Kwon was either pressing her lips together in a thin, thin line. And then, on certain occasions, she'd be biting the inside of her cheek to keep the emotions at bay.

She cocks an eyebrow at Minseok this time, when the silence thickens, and soon it settles back down. She grins. "C'mon, how did he even get considered for the post? And then Jinki's story, I want to hear that," she teases. "Come on, Minseok–"

"First ever trainer Donghae-hyung met who was able to tame a wild Gyarados at the first command," Minseok answers all in one breath, unblinking. It's as if he's been rehearsing the spiel for a while now, like he's been saying the line at the very back of his mind again and again for the past year. And maybe he has. Minseok seems to be the type to make sure all his bases are covered first, make sure that whatever he'll say is a hundred percent true. And Kyungsoo should know better than to judge people at the first meeting, just by the lilts and cracks in Minseok's voice and the rhythm in his words as he goes deeper into conversation with someone.

The next thing Kyungsoo knows, he hears Minseok asking, "Do you want me to pull up history on the past members of the League? I have access to the files." Minseok stretches his arms out in front of himself, locking his hands and pushing as far as he can go. "Every leader has access to the first two levels of data, at least. I can get the names and maybe we can use that to start the search operation. I can also ask my juniors to help, if you think we can use more people for this."

Professor Kwon nods. "That would be great. I knew I could count on you," she replies. She holds his gaze a little longer, leaning in, and then she's shifting her eyes to whatever she's reaching for in front of her. A thick folder of possibly notes and research on the people Professor Kwon has begun to look into. "In the mean time, you can take Baekhyun and Kyungsoo to Chuncheon-si and maybe give them a quick tour of the place. Show them the lake triangle gardens or something. The legendaries might just appear in front of them." Professor Kwon laughs. Kyungsoo squints, tries to see what's supposed to be funny with the statement, but finds nothing of interest. Nothing's amusing with going head-to-head with Thundurus in the route after the desert. Nothing's funny about being followed around by danger or lugging it around, making their load heavier as they move from one place to another. It's _frightening._ "Sounds pretty strange but they have the weirdest luck with encountering legendaries. The genies showed themselves to these two more than once."

Minseok leans back a little, jutting out his bottom lip in accord. "Can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, the legendaries don't just go seeking out humans on a whim. Everything they do, they do for a reason."

"Ah, that one we've narrowed down to just one reason," she replies. The flips through the pages of the thick folder she's holding and settles on one page. She pulls the edges of the other sheets back, then, rolling them behind the one page she's holding and bringing the sheet closer to the screen. "Take a look at this."

At first glance, the glass looks like an ordinary... hand mirror. One of those mirrors Kyungsoo has seen Soojung carrying around in the bag she uses for her journeys. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look good, after all. The difference, though, lies in the material of the frame, in the peculiar glimmer of the gems lined along the rim of the mirror. There are three thin curls, as well, all in different colors – one in blue, and another in brown. The last one is a deep shade of green, a color so familiar to Kyungsoo that the mere sight of the exact same hue makes him shiver all over. Brings him back to that first encounter back in that path leading to Iksan-si where he ended up a heap of sore limbs on the grass, a trainer desperately trying to protect himself from danger before he can even think of shielding his own Pokemon from harm.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and memorizes the tiny details on the glass, the tiny inscriptions along the bottom curve of the frame, the way a weird image had caught on the surface of the glass and trapped it there just as soon as the photographer shot this picture they are studying right now. Memorizes the way his stomach lurches and sets something in him on fire.

Memorizes the way Baekhyun's fingers dance over to where Kyungsoo is to just rest on his thigh at first, the way Baekhyun's fingers just fit between the pads of Kyungsoo's own when Kyungsoo shifts in his position to accommodate. In a faint, faint voice, almost as if Baekhyun’s just breathing, he whispers, “Is that–"

"This is the Reveal Glass, everyone," Professor Kwon says. She drops the sheet of paper, then holds a map close to their screen. "And if the legend _does_ speak of the truth then we'll find it right where least expect it – at the heart of the lake triangle garden."

She looks at Minseok and smiles. "Too close to home."

→

They make a stopover at Songu-ri, a village in Pocheon-si in the province of Gangwon. It's about a thirty-minute flight from Seoul, but they slowed down somewhere along the way, with Baekhyun snapping pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake littered along the path they should have taken, had they traveled by car.

"I had to park somewhere in the village yesterday. The roads that time were worse. We probably wouldn’t have gotten too far if we hit the roads last night," Minseok explains as they reach their final descent, their Pokemon taking a sharp dive as they hover the landing area for the village. From where Kyungsoo is, he can make out the lake triangle garden Professor Kwon was talking about earlier – there's Uiam Lake to the west, then Soyang Lake up north. Further north lies Paro Lake, close enough to the border that very few people dare to visit the area. Kyungsoo has only read about the lake in books; even people from the media hardly cover happenings in the place, if any at all. "This chaos you're seeing right now is only half of damage the province had sustained due to the quake."

"Just _half?_ " Baekhyun exclaims. Minseok nods, laughs a little. The sound gets muffled by the blowing winds, but the sharp sound of wind cutting through the thick blanket of air. Kyungsoo buries his face in Pelipper's feathers. "Do we even want to see what happened to Chuncheon-si? I mean–"

"That, you'll have to find out, for yourself," Minseok mutters. He gestures for the two to turn left, inch closer to the landing area, then smiles. "Take a deep breath, kids. You're in for a treat."

Chuncheon-si is just a quick ride from Pocheon-si, despite the mostly damaged roads. They take bicycles instead of Minseok's truck, and on the way Kyungsoo sees more destruction than real roads, more rubble and debris than actual establishments that the province probably takes pride in. He feels his stomach lurching, feels his toes curling in. And then the image of a huge wave crashing to shore flashes before Kyungsoo's eyes, an image of a big wave obliterating all the houses in sight in little Sinyuk-ri and chasing people away – from the village, from the island, too many miles away from home.

"How's Sokcho-si?" Baekhyun asks Minseok. Kyungsoo takes in a sharp breath, feeling the tension in his throat lift and ease. He clears his throat at the same time that Baekhyun pulls over for a moment, when they reach a clearing. "There wasn't anything in the news about it. I've been checking–"

Baekhyun cranes his neck, trying to make out the details of the place further north. Kyungsoo follows his gaze, then, inching closer to the edge of the cliff to get a better picture of the place Baekhyun is looking for. Part of the beach lined along Sokcho-si juts out, flashing Baekhyun an image of the metal tree that serves as one of Sokcho-si's markers. Baekhyun lets out a long, loud exhale; Kyungsoo hums. "Well, at least the metal tree's still there," he mutters.

"No tsunami warnings for the cities along the coastline, if that's what you're most worried about," Minseok answers. He gestures for them to hop on their bikes again, cocking an eyebrow at them before tilting his head in the direction of the road ahead. "I haven't heard from the officials in Sokcho-si but everything should be alright. Gangneung-si's leader would know more about it, but if no news has reached the League's network then everything should be fine."

It's true, Kyungsoo muses. They'd heard about the destruction at Chuncheon-si just five, ten minutes after the quake. Sunyoung had sent them pictures – of the place, of herself, of what the earthquake has done to the residents – at the first opportunity to alarm the group. Soojung sent her report from Gyeonggi-do, as well, giving them a detailed account of the casualties she'd encountered as she went around to help people. Gangneung-si hadn't taken much damage, according to reports, but when you live close to the sea and the mountains it becomes almost automatic to expect heavy damage whenever a disaster hits.

"Makes sense," Baekhyun mutters. He gets on his bike again but hovers for a moment before driving off.

Chuncheon-si is a different story, though. While not as damaged as the roads leading to the city, most of the roads are closed either for repair or due to a greater image of chaos ahead. The Pokemon Center still stands tall, though, albeit a bit scathed with all the scratches around the small building. The Mart opposite it is mostly unscathed, as well, along with the gym just a few blocks away. "At least the convenience store's not as damaged," Kyungsoo mutters are he looks around, surveying the area. There are at least two undamaged roads for trucks to drive along, as well. Things aren't as bad as media makes them look, after all.

The temple a few meters away from the gym looks heavily damaged, though.

Minseok inches closer, hands dug deep in his pockets. A few residents pass them by, greeting the trio with either a curt nod or a bow. Minseok gives them a wave, even ruffles the hair of the kid who approaches them to give Minseok a hug. Baekhyun lets out a faint hum in response; Kyungsoo smiles a little. "That's the joint effort of the residents and the Pokemon at work. If we didn't have Pokemon to help us out, we'd probably still be a mostly broken city buried in ruins," he says. He draws his hand across the air, from the fallen building in front of them to the fish stand that some Machoke are helping put back up with a few people. Some of the kids are rushing back to the site bringing little pails of water. "Everyone's working with everybody to try to... speed up the recovery, to an extent. We simply can't spare time to be sad or depressed here. Life goes on. We're just... glad we weren't swallowed by the mountains." Minseok chuckles. "Or even the waves."

Baekhyun laughs a little. "That's a nice way to look at things," he says, voice dropping to a whisper. "It's nice to see people working with Pokemon, though. The last time I saw this was... I dunno, after the war?"

Kyungsoo snorts. "Everyone was either cooperative or useless that time," he mutters. Some were determined to find that last strand of hope while others had lost it completely. Half the time, he had to look away from people who were lying on the road, looking into the distance with a vacant stare, look away from people who were crying while walking down streets. Sometimes he even had to resort to going out at night just to avoid the sight, thank his shitty eyesight for once. And that time, he thought, this was the real war – hope and despair desperately tugging on people's resolve in an attempt to win people's loyalty. Pokemon destroying every road humans can walk on and people having to shoot Pokemon just to save themselves. Looking back, he realizes that those are just a warning. What they’re facing right now, fear crippling people and paranoia keeping everyone from ever trusting anyone again – these are the signs of war. Two years since the destruction has ended and yet they’re still trying to win this battle.

It's the same thing that cripples people up to this day, the fear and paranoia enveloping the limbs of everyone who walks the same path that destruction once did.

"Well, we were able to get up before, after the war," Minseok answers. "So what's keeping us from getting back on track after another setback?"

Kyungsoo shifts his gaze from where he was staring at the temple and looks at Minseok. It's not always easy, he wants to say, but it shouldn't be difficult, either. All it takes is a lot of self-control, a strong resolve. The desire to make every single day better than the previous. "It starts with a single seed of want," he remembers Seungsoo telling him a few days after the war. They were dragging their things to the other side of the island, the one that wasn't as badly hit as Sinyuk-ri was. Kyungsoo's chest was heaving. He couldn't stop crying. "And you want to forget that chaos, right? So, Kyungsoo– C'mon, focus on– Listen to me, now. Just think happy thoughts–"

"This huge Snorlax that's in the way," Baekhyun mumbles and cocks his head in the direction of the Snorlax approaching them. The ground begins to shake when Snorlax runs, pace quickening with every passing second. It isn't fast – no Snorlax ever is – but it has picked up enough speed that the moment it lifts itself off the ground with a gentle push of its legs, Kyungsoo catches the sound of the mass cutting through air.

"This isn't good," Baekhyun mutters. "I mean he probably means no harm but _this is a fucking Snorlax Body Slamming the city–_ Marshtomp, come out!"

Kyungsoo takes a look around. Minseok has already summoned his Mamoswine and has ordered the Pokemon to try to cushion Snorlax's fall with a thick pillow of snow, but– "That won't be enough," Kyungsoo says under his breath. They probably don't have any Pokemon in their possession that can help soften the impact of Snorlax's fall. The easiest way to stop Snorlax from crashing to the ground is to catch it mid air, but even that its almost impossible to do. Perfect aim is essential in ball-throwing, after all.

So meet Snorlax halfway, a voice at the back of his mind mutters. He grips Kirlia's Pokeball on his belt tight and out comes Kirlia from its capsule, arms stretched out in Snorlax's direction. "Psyshock, now!" he tells Kirlia, and soon Snorlax is enveloped by a thick sheet of purple light, slowing down its descent and buying them more time. "Baekhyun, make Marshtomp seal up the cracks on the ground!"

Baekhyun blinks a few times before realization hits him, his mind still in a fit of panic. Soon, he's telling Marshtomp to use Mud Shot on the ground, then sends out Camerupt to help flatted the fresh mound of mud Mashtomp has just laid over the cracks. "I'll help," Minseok calls out, attending to the cracks on their opposite side. If Snorlax ever loses balance then it will fall on its back, roll over to the side of the road that has suffered even greater damage than the ground they're standing on right now. If Snorlax ever breaks away from the powerful grip of Kirlia's Psyshock then they can hope, at the very least, that the impact won't be as bad as it could have been, had they let Snorlax hit the cracked ground.

"Baek, can I borrow–" Kirlia lets out a sharp cry, unleashing the last few dregs of its power into this one shot. Kyungsoo winces, shivers, shakes all over. The last time he heard Kirlia like this was back when it was still a Ralts, being assaulted by a flock of Spearows. Back then, it was easy to use his body as a shield against the birds pecking on his skin, his scalp, every inch of his body because he knew that there was a chance he'd survive a barrage of Peck attacks from Spearow.

But he'll never be able to live getting crushed by a wild Snorlax. He's an okay trainer, yes, but it will take more than skill in battling to stop a Snorlax just eager to greet Minseok by plummeting to the ground.

"Ludicolo, I just need Ludicolo for a bit," Kyungsoo continues, finding his voice again. "Just tell it to listen to me for five minutes and I promise I'll return your Pokemon to you–

Kirlia's grunts are growing louder, rougher, like it can't contain the pain in its body anymore. And his fingers are becoming colder. Baekhyun nods without a second thought, tossing Ludicolo's Pokeball in the air. "Listen, Ludi, Kyungsoo needs your help," Baekhyun says, voice cracking every so often, with every muffled cry Marshtomp lets out as it pushes itself to its limit. "Won't take too long. Listen to him, okay? I promise it will be fun," he finishes. Ludicolo sways from side to side for a while and nods soon after, then turns around to face Kyungsoo. "You'll get along!"

Because you named your Lotad 'Kyungsoo', Kyungsoo wants to groan. Wants to punch Baekhyun in the face for choosing such a silly name, but– "Focus," he mutters under his breath. To Ludicolo, he says, "Ludicolo, I need you to use Water Gun on Snorlax to push it further up. Can you do that?" Ludicolo grins at the command and twirls on one foot, then fires off a powerful Water Gun attack at once, hitting Snorlax's back. Sprinkles of water fall down to the ground, to their faces titled up, like pouring rain. Like Ludicolo isn't actually using Water Gun and is, in fact, using a much more powerful attack.

Hydro Pump? It can't be. It will take a while for Ludicolo to learn it. Knowing Baekhyun, though, he would have started training Ludicolo for that, would have already prepared Ludicolo for an intense focus training that will help it hit more powerful yet accurate attacks. But–

"Is that a _burn?_ " Baekhyun asks, craning his neck in an attempt to see better. Kyungsoo guides his gaze up, then, squinting when he spots a nasty red mark on Snorlax’s stomach. "But how–"

It takes a while for the pain to catch up with Snorlax, takes a few more seconds until Snorlax lets out the most deafening cry. Baekhyun covers his ears with his hands. Minseok shuts his eyes, one hand pushing himself off the ground and the other clasped on his ear. An unfamiliar cold crawls up Kyungsoo's spine and makes him shiver, chokes down the attack he was just about to call out to Ludicolo. He coughs out, trying to press on, but all the comes out is a feeble, "Scald– Just keep using–"

He looks to his side, trying to see how Kirlia is. The Pokemon is still on its feet, but he can see Kirlia's legs shaking. He can the way Kirlia has its eyes squinted, focused on nothing else but Snorlax, on trying to get it down to the ground with the pressure of the Scald attack making Snorlax a bit lighter than it should be.

"The ground's cracking up again! I think it's from that scream!" Baekhyun calls out.

"It's not an ordinary scream," Minseok tells them. "Hang on, maybe Jynx could– Jynx, help Kirlia out with your Psychic attack!"

Kyungsoo mutters a faint 'thanks' in Minseok's direction and gestures for Jynx to come closer. Pausing for a moment, he takes Trapinch's Pokeball from his belt and tosses it in Baekhyun's direction, hitting the back of Baekhyun's head. Baekhyun scowls for a while, seethes at the impact of the ball hitting his skull, but makes no other sound of protest. Instead, he asks Trapinch to summon rocks, then reaches for Pelipper's Pokeball from Kyungsoo's belt.

"Do that again and I'll kick your ass," Kyungsoo mutters. Baekhyun grins, but half of his attention is still on the community's efforts to patch up the ground in time for Snorlax's delayed landing. Kyungsoo can see himself clearly in Baekhyun's eyes, though, a crisp image of the worry written on his features so clear in his reflection in Baekhyun's irises.

And he should be telling Ludicolo to gradually decrease the power of the attack. And he should be keeping watch over both Kirlia and Jynx, making sure they're not overextending themselves just trying to get a Pokemon safely to the ground. And he shouldn't be watching the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun's lips tug up the corners of his mouth, shouldn't even be letting Baekhyun steal his attention like this and make his stomach turn and _distract him_ like he's been born for it.

He balls one hand into a fist. Bites his tongue even before his mind can start thinking of all the silly thoughts he keeps pushing to the very back of his mind. "Pelipper, soften the rocks with Scald," he tells his Pokemon, then tears his gaze from Baekhyun's knowing eyes. With his back turned to Baekhyun, he gives his last warning – "If Pelipper gets injured, _I swear to God,_ Baekhyun, I'm going to kick your ass."

"Pssh. I can take worse," Baekhyun says. He hums for a bit, then says, "I won't hurt him, I promise."

There's a lilt in his voice and a crack somewhere in his syllables. If Kyungsoo closes his eyes, maybe he'll see Baekhyun smiling at him, _assuring_ him with the gentle coax of his thumb brushing along Kyungsoo's wrist that hey, c'mon, you can trust me. I won't let anything happen to your Pokemon. When have I ever caused anyone trouble? _When have I ever let you down?_

Kyungsoo shifts his gaze to the side a bit, hoping to look over his shoulder to check how Pelipper is doing, but soon a bright burst of light hits his eyes, makes him squint, makes him shiver. A blanket of warmth drapes on his shoulders when he inches closer and brings one hand to soften the bright light. He can still see Jynx to his right, can still see the spray where Ludicolo's Scald attack connects with Snorlax. And he can still see Ludicolo, momentarily stunned by the bright light but still keeping the beam of water steady. So he looks to his left, opens his eyes wide in the hope of finding the source of light, the source of the beautiful humming sound that sounds a lot like the only music that could lull him to sleep the first few days after the war.

The thick cloud of light lifts little by little, bit by bit, until all that's left is a thin haze enveloping the whole place. He can make out the shadowy figure in the distance, a tall figure about the size of a human being, glowing in the brightest mix of soft pink and purple. Its wearing a white dress that stretches past its legs, covering the pale green limbs. Its hair reaches its shoulders now. And it has a thick red scale driven to the center of its chest.

"Isn't that-–"

The Pokemon gives off a bright yet warm sound, its voice ringing in Kyungsoo's ears long after it has stopped crying out. His chest tightens as he takes a deep, deep breath, as he curls in his fingers and lets his lips hang parted as the haze lifts. The Pokemon turns its gaze, then, arms still lifted in Snorlax's direction, beams of purple shooting out from its hands.

"Gardevoir," he says, voice thinning to a whisper. He gulps hard, clenches his fists so tight he can feel his nails digging into his skin. And he isn't waking up yet. If this was a dream then this is the perfect time to rouse from his slumber, to snap out of trance. But even as the white haze dissipates completely, Gardevoir's figure still stands a few feet away, eyes locked onto Kyungsoo's own and a smile pulling up the corners of its lips.

Something dangles from its neck – a thin silver necklace with a translucent pendant resting on the right side of the red scale on Gardevoir's chest. Part of him wants to ask, do you want to give it a shot? Give the whole mega evolution thing a try? Kirlia was ecstatic when it first saw the mega evolution stone, after all. But then there's so much at risk – if their bond isn't strong enough then Gardevoir will lose control over Snorlax. Jynx will have to push itself harder. Ludicolo will have to accommodate, as well. And there's no telling how long it will take for Gardevoir to recover from the failed mega evolution. This isn't something Kyungsoo knows inside and out.

This isn't part of the plan.

"Do it!" comes a familiar voice from behind him. He furrows his eyebrows, mutters under his breath just loud enough for Gardevoir to hear, I'll– I'll give you an answer in a while. He's met with the sight of Baekhyun waving his hands in the air, then placing his hands close to his mouth as he repeats, this time louder, "Come on, Soo! Do it! There's no reason for it not to work!"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Behind Baekhyun, the ground has already evened out, the cracks filled with soil summoned by the Pokemon and hardened by the teamwork of the Pokemon and humans, combined. Maybe Pelipper can help hold up Snorlax, but it already looks tired. Trapinch looks pretty worn out, as well. He can ask Sableye to help, but this isn't a game where he has to use all the chess pieces in order to win. He'll only be putting all of his Pokemon in danger. And no good trainer would ever put his Pokemon in harm's way, knowing so well that the slightest mistake, the slightest miscalculation in timing, will get everyone in serious trouble.

"Do Kyungsoo, you've been training with Gardevoir _your entire life!_ " Baekhyun calls out, laughing. "If there's any Pokemon in your team that you can _easily_ link with, it's her. So stop thinking too much and go with your gut! Dude–"

Kyungsoo blinks a few times. Baekhyun's right – if there _is_ one Pokemon that knows him inside and out, maybe even better than some of his other friends do, then it's Gardevoir. They've grown up together, gone through tests together. He's cradled Gardevoir to sleep back when it was still a Ralts and Gardevoir has seen him cry over lost friends, toy cars, and wasted ice cream that he'd accidentally dropped to the ground. As a Ralts, Gardevoir was with him when he couldn't figure out why Baekhyun asked to meet at the beach just before sunset, five minutes before he had to leave for his boat ride to Mokpo-si. Gardevoir was there when Baekhyun pushed Kyungsoo away after pulling him close for a kiss. Gardevoir was there when Kyungsoo called after Baekhyun but couldn't quite move his feel, couldn't feel his limbs, couldn't even breathe easily.

And as a Kirlia, Gardevoir has urged him to do better, free himself from the bounds of his past. To just... move on the same way that Gardevoir had, through evolution. Gardevoir was there for him, _with him,_ through thick and thin. Kyungsoo and Baekhyun weren't the inseparable duo; it was him and Gardevoir.

He gulps hard and balls his hands into tight fists. Then he tears his gaze from Baekhyun and looks at Gardevoir, eyes focused on nothing, no one else but his Pokemon. If there's a right time to take a blind leap of faith then this is it. Gardevoir will be at the other side, anyway, pulling him up from the ground, or maybe falling along with him.

"This is it, huh?" he whispers just loud for himself to hear above Baekhyun's incessant cheering of _come the fuck on!_ He trusts Gardevoir to hear him anyway, to know the words he wants to say and even those he's afraid to let slip from his lips. So he takes a deep breath, nods at Gardevoir and draws his right hand close to his chest. He curls his fingers into a fist and feels for the gem on his ring, running the pads of his fingers along the smooth surface. His breath hitches at the first touch, when he feels the numbing coldness of the gem, but soon the gem glows and thaws out, the once cold surface gleaming in warmth. Light spills onto his skin, crawls up between the webs of his fingers and dances all the way to his throat. And he feels like choking. It feels as if all the power in the ring is drawing out every single memory he has with Gardevoir, scratching the surface of his mind in search of clues on who Gardevoir truly is.

Around him, dust lifts from the ground and clings to his bare ankles, legs, reaches up to the backs of his knees. Flashes of the times he's spent with Gardevoir appears before his eyes – him watching Seungsoo craft a serum for Ralts and quickly bringing it to his injured Pokemon, him running his fingers tentatively through Ratls' short hair. Him promising, "If you come with me, I swear to protect you no matter what!" and Ralts chuckling at him because who even promises something like that? What five-year-old would promise a wild Ralts that he'd saved just moments ago that he'd protect a Pokemon at all costs when he can't even fight off a Spearow or two? What five-year-old would ask an injured Ralts to do a pinky promise with him because, "Seungsoo-hyung said that a deal isn't a deal if we don't link pinkies so... Friends?"

And what silly trainer would even doubt the link between himself and a Pokemon who has spent almost its whole life journeying alongside its trainer?

Kyungsoo shuts his eyes tight and digs deeper until he touches on that single, strongest memory in the deepest tresses of his mind. He flinches at the first sign of flames all around him, when he sees houses burning down left and right and a big wave fast approaching the shore. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm– I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise," Kyungsoo remembers himself saying. He can feel the subtle movement of Ralts' head against his shirt, can hear the muffled sound of Ralts' cry, can feel vibrations of its voice in the tight press of their bodies. "I'm so, so sorry–"

And then he feels it – the ripping sensation cutting along his flesh, pulling at every part of him like he's being torn into too many little pieces. Warmth soon settles in, though, between the gaps inside him, filling the hollow cavity in Kyungsoo's chest with a feeling so great he fears he might explode. So Kyungsoo grinds his teeth, fights the strong pull of some invisible force inside of him and forces himself to stay standing on two feet. If he pulls away, if he gives up now, then all the years of hard work he and Gardevoir have put in to make themselves better will go to waste.

He shakes his head. They'll make this work. They'll get it right on the first try. He tightens his right fist all the more and screams out when the ripping feeling intensifies, crawling up his neck and plucking at the strings inside him one by one–

The thick veil of light around them thins, lifts, turns into smoke as the scene clears. Kyungsoo holds onto his knees tight, nails digging into his skin, leaving a dull ache in his muscles that shoots down his calves. He hiccups, tries to catch his breath but to no avail – his chest feels so tight. His throat is dry and tightens around the words he wants to force out of his mouth, through the narrow gap of his lips and through every shift of his muscles. Still, he tries, takes a few quick breaths until he can say– "Gard–Gardevoir–"

Gardevoir lets out a sharp cry a few feet away. Kyungsoo looks up, draws his eyes to the source of the voice and–

"Holy shit, you actually–“ Soft laughter from a few feet behind him, a snort, and then, "You did it!"

Kyungsoo shifts his gaze to the Snorlax slowly descending from the skies. Ludicolo's Scald attack has weakened and the veil of purple Jynx had wrapped around Snorlax has faded a little, but Snorlax's descent remains slow and steady, almost as if it's being guided by some invisible force from above. And Gardevoir – no, _Mega Gardevoir_ – is standing tall on its feet, head lifted up high and eyebrows furrowed as the Pokemon fires off another beam of purple energy onto the Snorlax hovering them.

"Psychic," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. He coughs, sputters a few more unintelligible sounds that don't make sense even to himself. His throat still feels so tight and dry. And he can feel a violent upward tug at the corners of his lips, strong enough to make him feel as if his cheeks are being ripped apart, just enough to shake him out of his trance and bring him back to where he should be – a few feet away from Gardevoir, battling alongside his faithful companion. Encouraging his Pokemon to do better and never give up, the same way he kept telling Ralts, when they were still starting out, to just keep going. _Bit by bit, Ralts, come on– That's great! Just keep focusing your energy and you'll master Confusion in no time!_

"Gardevoir, use Psychic, now!" Kyungsoo calls out. Gardevoir looks to its side for the quickest second, then nods at Kyungsoo in response. Gardevoir is smiling. Its hair covers half of its face but Kyungsoo can see the grin lifting the tension in Gardevoir's muscles in the way Gardevoir stands upright, head tilted up, confidence it has never worn before in the stretch of its body. And Gardevoir is swaying from side to side, just subtle movements of the hem of its dress that make it seem as if Gardevoir is floating. Maybe it feels light. Maybe it feels much less burdened than before. Maybe Gardevoir feels that this is where it should be – helping both Pokemon and people out, unleashing its full potential for the benefit of others.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Smiles to himself and says, at the very back of his mind, you've raised her well. If there's one thing you've been doing right all this time, Kyungsoo, this is it. It _has_ to be this one.

Gardevoir's body glows a mix of light pink and purple. Rings of the same color wrap around its wrists, then its hands. Then Gardevoir's enveloping Snorlax in an even thicker blanket of aura, maybe even a carpet taking Snorlax to solid ground, a safer place. Closer to trainers who have tried to save it, not attack it. Closer to its fellow Pokemon that are helping it get back to its feet so it can stand upright.

Snorlax tilts its head when its feet touch the ground. It looks around for a moment, opening its tiny eyes wide as it takes in the sight in front of it – a mix of people, Pokemon, and the fallen establishments left and right. It tumbles back, falling flat on its back, but tries to get up again. Minseok walks over, then, making his way through the crowd as Snorlax struggles to get back to its feet. From a corner of Kyungsoo's eye, he can see Jynx coaxing Snorlax to stand with the gentle push of some psychic energy; to his right, Gardevoir is doing the same, gaze focused on nothing, no one else but Snorlax.

Something in Kyungsoo's chest swells, knocks on the walls of his ribs in attempt to leap out and make his heart thump wildly all the more. Gardevoir has never had much difficulty working with other Pokemon but its connection with Jynx, the way the two Pokemon try to aid each other _while aiding another Pokemon_ – this isn't something Gardevoir has ever shared with any Pokemon other than–

Kyungsoo drops his gaze to his feet. Help yourself, he tells himself. Move on; Gardevoir has already let go of the past. Like trainer, like Pokemon, right?

"I haven't seen you in months, back when you were still a little Munchlax," comes Minseok soft greeting now. He stops just in front of Snorlax and reaches out with one hand, palm facing up in Snorlax's direction. Standard Pokemon taming procedure showed to everyone in school, a process teachers always remind aspiring trainers to follow to make recruiting Pokemon to their teams much easier. "We tried tracking you down, Munch– _Snorlax,_ he corrects. "Why didn't you ever respond?"

Snorlax lets out a sharp cry, then falls forward without another word. A thick blanket of silence settles upon the place, lifts the cheerful noise that filled the area earlier after the Pokemon had successfully brought Snorlax back down to the ground. Minseok hesitates for a moment, hovers without really reaching out, and then Snorlax is crying out again, the loud sound it unleashes even more deafening that before. Kyungsoo shivers, feeling his knees shake at the light tremor of the ground around them. He can feel the dull ache in his right ankle resurface as he holds out one arm in Gardevoir's direction. The weird feeling eases as soon as Gardevoir bumps its head against Kyungsoo's own in a light, light nudge, but his chest still feels unbearably tight.

And Snorlax is still wailing, almost as if its suffering from intense pain. It wasn't supposed to sustain wounds earlier, but– "Did Ludicolo burn him?" Minseok asks, looking at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun shakes his head, shrugs. Mutters, “Looks like it but then didn’t Gardevoir use some protective shield on it?” He scratches the back of his head. “A… barrier?"

"There must be something–" Minseok drops to his knees and holds one of Snorlax's arms down, squinting as he searches for any cuts or bruises on the Pokemon's body. Kyungsoo tries to scan Snorlax's body for a thin cut, a gash, a burn or maybe something just stuck in its feet, but to no avail – there's nothing visible to their eyes that explains Snorlax's endless wailing and whimpering.

"Hold–" Baekhyun tilts his head, scurries to Minseok's side of the area to roll Snorlax over to the other side. "Help me with– _There._ I think I saw something stuck in its–"

Kyungsoo cracks his knuckles and walks over to where Baekhyun is. "Gadevoir, we need some help," he says, looking at his Pokemon for a quick second, then crouches low so he can assist in getting Snorlax to lie flat on its stomach. The first contact of his palms to Snorlax's skin is rough, too hot, almost prickling his hands. Baekhyun seethes, too, when they begin pushing Snorlax, when Snorlax doesn't even budge an inch despite the eight people all working on having it roll to the other side.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He shakes his hands, trying to restore the feeling in his fingers. His arms already ache, muscles burning with every grunt, every push, every ounce of effort they pour into making the operation work. They try seeking the group of Machoke for help, but the most they are able to do is to move Snorlax's hand from being buried under its weight to being on its side. Gardevoir and Jynx try to help, as well, but even the combined powers of the psychic-type Pokemon can't urge Snorlax to budge. At best, they're able to breathe a bit of life into Snorlax, help the Pokemon catch its breath again.

At worst, they make Snorlax too aware of the pain clawing at its very core and make Snorlax cry out again, even louder than before.

"We won't be able to make it move," Baekhyun grumbles after a while, pulling away from the group. "Too heavy. Can't we just– Maybe we should just capture Snorlax or something. Pokemon recover a bit of their energy when they're inside a Pokeball, right? It's worth a shot." He moves around in a tight circle, shaking his hands. Drops them to his sides at the same time that his shoulders slump forward. From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Baekhyun's arms shaking, can see the beads of sweat trailing from the curve of Baekhyun's face down to the low dip of his threadbare shirt. Can see weird red marks on Baekhyun's skin, left of his chest, just near his collarbones. Wear something more decent, part of Kyungsoo wants to say, something appropriate for a Pokemon journey and not for sleeping, but now is not a time to be fretting about Baekhyun's fashion choices. There's a Pokemon in pain right before them, injured by some invisible force that decided to harm Snorlax just after it had been possessed by some dark power. Their psychic-types are tired, worn out. And the trainers are drained, as well. Everyone has been working so hard, after all, just to piece Chuncheon-si together again, after the massive earthquake that shook up the entire country. There are more things to worry about.

"I have a Heal Ball," one of the trainers offers. He hands Baekhyun the pink capsule and smiles a little. "That will help it heal up more energy, right? I mean, the Center's not too far from here but I can just imagine its pain–"

Snorlax lets out another sharp cry, opening its mouth wide this time as it throws its head back against the ground. "That's gotta hurt," Baekhyun mumbles, furrowing his eyebrows as he frowns. Kyungsoo flinches at the sound, narrows his eyes as the waves of sound rattles the land again, shaking up the solid ground. For a moment, he worries about the soil going loose, but then he catches sight of something gleaming in Snorlax's mouth, something that looks a lot like a gem stuck to its tooth.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times. Snorlax shuts its mouth, then opens it again to let out another stream of screams.

"I'm capturing him. I can't stand– He's in so much pain," Baekhyun groans. Moving forward, he takes a Pokeball from his belt. "Espeon, help us out!" he calls out, then, but even before he can toss the capsule in the air Kyungsoo reaches out to grab Baekhyun by the wrist. "What–"

"Don't capture it. There's something stuck in its tooth," Kyungsoo mutters. He pulls Baekhyun forward, then, in Snorlax's direction, and motions for Baekhyun to crouch. "Ask your Espeon to make Snorlax open its mouth. Won't take more than a minute, I swear."

"How did you even see that?"

Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow in Baekhyun's direction. For a second, he's tempted to ask Baekhyun, _why are you even questioning me? You've never second-guessed any of my claims,_ but he pushes that thought to the back of his mind, focusing, instead, on the task at hand. "When it opened its mouth earlier, I saw a red stone or something between its teeth. Or stuck in just a tooth. Couldn't see it clearly but I definitely saw something glowing inside Snorlax's mouth."

Baekhyun lets out a low exhale, an eyebrow still raised at Kyungsoo. He summons his Espeon, nonetheless, telling it in a soft, faint voice, "Try to make Snorlax open its mouth. We just have to get something out."

"Or maybe–" comes Minseok's voice. Espeon fires off a Psychic attack, nonetheless, focused on a single purple beam that pries Snorlax's mouth open. "Get the gem out but ask Gardevoir to talk to it. Or connect with its thoughts, whichever is easiest." Minseok sucks in his bottom lip for a moment before continuing. "I just saw the chain around its ankle. The symbol looks familiar," he adds. "If it is what I think it is then Snorlax will be able to tell us a lot about what happened to him before he attacked us."

"Got it," Kyungsoo says. He looks at Gardevoir and gives his Pokemon a curt nod. "We'll get right to it."

The thing that the man back in Seoul didn't warn him about was that everything – _every single thing_ – that your Pokemon does while still in its mega evolution state directly affects its trainer. Kyungsoo examines the scars on his forearms now, sees dark, dark bruises on his skin that he doesn't recall getting. He casts a glance at Gardevoir, then, who has its eyes closed, palms facing Snorlax. "It's open now. Should be safe," he hears Baekhyun saying, so he tears his gaze from Gardevoir and sticks his hand inside Snorlax's mouth and clamps his fingers on the red gem he'd seen earlier.

He can feel Snorlax's teeth grazing against his skin, can feel the soft vibrations of sound wrap around his hand when gives the gem a light tug. He gulps down hard when he feels Snorlax's teeth dig into his skin _just a little,_ enough for his heart to race in his chest, but all thoughts of Snorlax possibly biting his hand off dissipates when he feels a familiar warmth drape on his shoulders.

Gardevoir isn't touching him, but he can feel the steady thumping of Gardevoir's heart somehow, can hear the words it's telling Snorlax – _What's the matter? Why are you hurting? You... didn't mean to harm us, right? Who was controlling you that time when you almost tackled the leader to the ground?_

Kyungsoo doesn't even get to pull the gem out when the memories begin to flash before his eyes. There's one of Snorlax when it was a baby, a Munchlax left in the wild by its mother. There's also one of it running into a trainer's arms and burying its face in the trainer's chest. "They didn't harm you, did they?" comes the familiar voice, the smile pulling up on the corners of his lips even more familiar than the cracked voice that had coaxed Munchlax into submission earlier.

The Munchlax in the memory looks up at the trainer and touches the man's face. Sharp eyes, the soft angles of the jaw, and that subtle upward curl of the lip– "Leader Minseok?" Kyungsoo mutters under his breath now. He tries to look to his side, over his shoulder, anywhere but in the hollow cavity of his memories, but he's stuck here and his fingers feel so cold and his chest feels so tight.

"Munchlax? Muchlax, where are y–" The younger Minseok in the memory looks around, desperately looking for Munchlax in the thick grass in a big, big field. This couldn't have happened after the war; no grasslands were left after every inch of South Korea received the brunt force of the attacks of the legendary Pokemon and Team Rocket's bombs, combined. Maybe this happened three, four years ago? Minseok isn't wearing the League badge in the memory and his hair is still the darkest shade of black instead of the cool blue that it is now. And he looks so lost, wading through the tall grass like that. It's almost as if Kyungsoo isn't looking at Minseok, isn't watching the same person who had gotten them through the obstacles leading to the city, isn't witnessing Chuncheon-si's gym leader running through the thick grass and yelling, "Munchlax, please come out. You know it's not safe–"

"Just a little more!" he hears someone saying nearby, close enough that he can feel warm breath prickling his skin and making him shiver. He gulps down hard, takes a deep breath. Tries to focus on the sound of the younger Minseok's voice in this trance, but too late. The voice fades out to a distant murmur as Snorlax pulls him deeper into its thoughts, its memories, the image of the pain and fear scrawled all over Minseok's features much clearer than before.

→

"He's asleep," Minseok says as he shuts the door behind him. The lock falls in place with a soft click, the only sound breaking the thick white noise that has settled in the room. "And the burn on his back has already been healed. Your Swablu put in a lot of work back there, Baekhyun."

Baekhyun looks up from where he's been putting a bandage on Ludicolo's wounds and smiles. He would have left Ludicolo with the nurses, would have entrusted his Pokemon with them, but most of Chuncheon-si's Centers are packed with trainers and Pokemon who need more help than they do. That, and Ludicolo had insisted on just receiving light treatment, on having serum lathered all over its body instead of having to be hooked to an IV after sustaining so many wounds from the fight. Trust the Pokemon to be as stubborn as the trainer. And trust Baekhyun to be weak to his Pokemon's whims, to give in to whatever his Pokemon as from him.

"Glad she could help," Baekhyun says, voice dropping to a whisper. Minseok walks over, headed in Kyungsoo's direction, so Kyungsoo shifts in his seat. Moves a bit closer to Baekhyun, thinning the already little distance between them. Kyungsoo can measure it with his thumb, if he wanted to, but he'd rather not. It's already enough that Baekhyun's launching all sorts of attempts to weaken Kyungsoo's resolve and make him break his end of the deal; he's already dug his own grave. Surely, he doesn't need to bring flowers for himself anymore, eulogize himself, remember the many stupid things he's done in his life that all involved Baekhyun.

Mission, he repeats to himself, chants it like a mantra at the back of his mind until he hears nothing but the sound of his own voice. They have a mission to fulfill. Maybe after the mission Kyungsoo can finally breathe, lean into Baekhyun's hot and prickling touch. Maybe he can finally give in.

Maybe Baekhyun will finally stay in one place and not wonder how things could've been better had he been somewhere else.

"–I mean, she's pretty new to the team so capabilities-wise, I'm... not too familiar with what she can do yet–" Kyungsoo hears Baekhyun saying. When he looks to his left, he finds Minseok standing right beside him, hovering. His lips are parted but no sound comes out. There's only Minseok's soft, warm breath tickling the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose, the careful, assessing look in Minseok's eyes as he squints them and lifts an eyebrow in accord. "–so everything's sort of an experiment. Does that make sense? I mean, I know Swablu's abilities and the moves it can learn but you can only do much with just knowledge, right?"

Minseok's gaze hasn't waned yet. And Kyungsoo still hasn't budged. If this were a real gym challenge then Kyungsoo probably would have run out of time, would have had to sustain damage from Minseok’s Pokemon launching an attack on one of Kyungsoo’s own. So Kyungsoo clears his throat, mutters, "It's said that even just Swablu's calming presence can heal a legion of Pokemon." He drops his gaze to Swablu's approaching figure, to the Pokemon zooming past the door and twirling on Baekhyun's head before landing on it.

"She does this all the time. _All the time,_ " Baekhyun mumbles. He doesn't look annoyed, though, not a trace of a frown on his lips or a hint of a grimace in his voice. A corner of his mouth tugs up when Swablu wipes its cotton wings on his face, but soon he's covering his nose and groaning, "Swablu, stop– Don't–"

"And it's also said that Swablu wipe dusty and dirty surfaces first before landing on them," Kyungsoo continues, ending with a hum. A ghost of a snicker spills from Minseok's lips, tickles giggles out of him that lift the tension in his cheeks and eases the light knot of his eyebrows. "That came from a Pokedex entry, by the way. Not making anything up."

"You rigged the Dex system," Baekhyun retorts. He reaches for Kyungsoo's calf with his foot and gives Kyungsoo a light kick, but all he ever succeeds in doing is making the material of his pants brush against his wound. "Fucking _ow!_ " he groans at first, but keeps kicking Kyungsoo anyway, each repetition losing force and feeling more like Baekhyun drawing lazy lines up and down Kyungsoo's leg, trying to see how much of himself he can scribble of Kyungsoo's skin.

Minseok's gaze flickers for a moment, shifting between the two of them, then he's back with his calculated stare and the perpetual upward curl on his lips. "Maybe you'll want Swablu to disinfect your wounds, as well," he teases. Baekhyun growls at him in response, squinting his eyes, but Minseok only laughs in response. "You know, sometimes I can't tell who's the trainer and who's the Pokemon–"

Kyungsoo snorts. "It's Baekhyun," he answers, "The one who needs taming is Baekhyun."

"Of course, you'd know," Baekhyun mutters. He hangs his head low for a moment, then meets Kyungsoo's gaze out of a corner of his eye when he tilts his head to the side. "Of course you'd know that very well."

Kyungsoo gulps hard, doesn't look away. This is a test, he tells himself; the more he pushes Baekhyun away, the more Baekhyun will come running after him. The more he tries to wriggle himself free from Baekhyun's grasp, the more Baekhyun will reach out for him, take a chance and try to earn a touch. So he won't fight back, won't drive Baekhyun away, but he won't submit, either. Instead, he'll remain as solid as a rock, unmoved, unperturbed. Unaffected by Baekhyun's weird antics and the way Baekhyun's lips fall open into the prettiest smile when he loses himself to laughter and his emotions.

Baekhyun reaches out, resting his hand on Kyungsoo's own. There are still scars on the back of Baekhyun's hand from when he'd been hit by the Tropius, from when he'd tried to help Kyungsoo out but ended up adding himself to Kyungsoo's list of people to take care of. Kyungsoo laughs at the thought, at the way Baekhyun's hand tremble against his skin. It's a bit strange, disconcerting that it's Baekhyun who is testing tepid waters when they're supposed to have grown accustomed to the prickling heat around them already. And it also feels a bit nice, knowing that Baekhyun's fulfilling his end of the deal to an extent.

"How's your ankle?" Baekhyun asks. He draws his gaze to Kyungsoo's legs, to the nasty red mark burning along the flesh. "Sorry about that. Totally forgot you're still not fully recovered but, I mean–" He purses his lips, sucks in his bottom lip soon after like he's trying to draw out every inch of reason inside him. Like his words have clung to the chapped skin of his lips and made permanent home there, promising to not go elsewhere. "You were _riding a bike earlier._ What injured guy would ride a bike with a swollen–"

"I'm good," Kyungsoo whispers. He sneaks a glance at Baekhyun, peeking from just the slits of his bangs. Baekhyun's lips still hang parted. There's a tiny cut somewhere towards the middle, where his lips are the most red. Probably from being worried too much or drinking too little water. When you're taking care of people and Pokemon, it's easy to forget to take care of yourself.

So Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, licks his lips as he asks, "You?" Baekhyun tilts his head in question, eyebrows furrowed in a light knot. "How are the cuts? They... don't hurt anymore, I hope?"

Baekhyun's eyes widen, just a subtle lift of the eyebrows and a light tug on the eyelids that puts his shock on display. "Uh, well, they hurt," Baekhyun begins, then slips back into the habit of biting his lips too much. Kyungsoo scrunches his nose in thoughtless retaliation. Sits on his hands, too, else he'd reach out and swat Baekhyun's hand away. Worse, trap it between his fingers and just keep Baekhyun right there, pinned in place so that Baekhyun won't ever walk away without another word again. "But I can walk and move around, for the most part, so they should be on their way to healing completely–"

"Have you been drinking your medicine?"

"I have medicine?" Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow at him. "I thought it was just the serum, nothing else? I applied it this morning. I don’t have to–“ He groans. "Do I really have to drink that thing again? _Ugh._ "

Kyungsoo narrows his eyes in response, lands a quick jab to Baekhyun's arm. It's a safe patch of skin that he's twisting his knuckles in, he's certain. He's already mapped out the scars on Baekhyun's body, has already memorized every slope and curl and wicked turn of Baekhyun's limbs. He knows them well enough by now that he can close his eyes and reach out to Baekhyun, graze the pads of his fingers along a familiar wound and say, ah, I know this person. And he knows me.

"Three tablespoons later," Kyungsoo mutters. When Baekhyun parts his lips to speak, Kyungsoo shakes his head and holds up a finger, saying, " _No but's._ Medicine, later. Clear?"

Baekhyun doesn't respond yet. Or at least that's what Kyungsoo thinks, even when Baekhyun leans in, cutting the six inches between them to three. Tiny puffs of hot breath reach Kyungsoo's skin, pop there and score a line of heat along the bridge of his nose. It... tickles. It isn't like one of those surges of heat Baekhyun always seems to make his sense go through. It feels softer, milder, a bit more unsure but certainly just as 'Baekhyun'.

"Everything already hurts and you still want me to drinks meds? Come on," Baekhyun groans in a soft, soft voice after a while. Just two inches between them now, Kyungsoo notes. If they move the slightest bit then they might meet halfway, might end up in a collision of limbs. And Kyungsoo knows better than to charge into Baekhyun heart first. "You can't possibly be this heartless! Do Kyungsoo–"

"It's for your own good," Kyungsoo counters. He leans back, sliding three more inches between them. From where he is, he can see Baekhyun's features better – the pimples on his cheeks, the cut running from Baekhyun's upper lip, crossing from the top of his mouth to the bottom. The faint flush on his cheeks that says more than it should. The way Baekhyun leans in again, trying to move closer, but pulls away in the very end to retort with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth says everything that Kyungsoo needs to know – that Baekhyun understands what this deal of theirs entails. "Good boy. I'll be back for you later."

"You make me sound like a dog," Baekhyun complains.

Kyungsoo scoffs. Chuckles, even shakes his head a little. He stands from his seat and Baekhyun makes this weird, indiscernible noise that sounds a lot like gurgling. Maybe they're the words he keeps pushing down his throat for a better enunciation at a better time. Or maybe Kyungsoo's just making things up in his head, letting his imagination run wild when there's neither anything to be read between the lines nor a hidden image somewhere in the picture.

"I'll be back with medicine," Kyungsoo promises. When Baekhyun parts his lips just a little, enough for a low _um_ to slip from the narrow opening, Kyungsoo adds, "Just wait. I'll be back for you."

The ghost of a smile lights Baekhyun's features. "Alright," Baekhyun mumbles, then sinks back in his seat. "I'll... just be around."

By the time they finish helping some trainers out with either patching up wounds or feeding their Pokemon energy-boosting soup, it's already three in the afternoon. There's enough time to challenge Minseok to a battle to get the quest for their third badge out of the way, but Kyungsoo isn't that stupid to let his Pokemon head out to battle after wearing themselves out with the relief operations earlier. That, and half the gym has been occupied by trainers whose homes have been wrecked by the recent earthquake have made a home out of the establishment.

“Part of being a gym leader,” Minseok explains to Baekhyun and Kyungsoo as they wade through the slowly thinning crowd in the Pokemon Center, “is having to be ready to help out at any given time. Doesn’t matter how big or small the gesture is – you have to be able to serve your people to the best of your ability.” He bows to the residents approaching him, all with their own spiels and greetings. _Thank you, Leader Minseok,_ one of them says. The kid beside his parents mutters, _we haven’t had a leader as good as you–_ Minseok shakes his head at that, tells them, “That can’t be true. Give the past leaders some credit; I’m sure they all did what they could to give the residents of Chuncheon-si a good future."

Baekhyun slides next to Kyungsoo and leans in, lips brushing against the shell of Kyungsoo’s ear. Kyungsoo doesn’t look to his side yet, doesn’t tear his gaze from the road ahead, but his breath does hitch. He curls in his fingers into tight fists. Baekhyun presses on, nonetheless, resting one hand on the jut of Kyungsoo’s hip as he whispers, “He sounds _exactly_ like Joonmyun-hyung."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows, mutters, “Huh?” A few feet away, Minseok hasn’t stopped giving his speech yet, but his cheeks aren’t puffed up anymore. The dark circles under is eyes are showing. He’s smiling less, but that doesn’t take away from the lilt of his voice, the richness of his tone. If Joonmyun was in Minseok’s position then he wouldn’t be smiling at all, but he’d still be speaking in the most polite manner he knows how. So yes, maybe Joonmyun and Minseok are alike in a number of ways, have the same coping mechanisms and same methods of handling people. Maybe Baekhyun _has_ found a bit of Joonmyun, the man he’d always looked up to even after Joonmyun left the island to set off on his Pokemon journey too many years ago, in Minseok. Big deal.

What doesn’t make sense is the why Baekhyun is pulling Kyungsoo closer but stopping just before his chest presses against Kyungsoo’s back. Why Baekhyun even has his hand secure on Kyungsoo’s waist. Why Kyungsoo’s getting the weirdest, most insane urge to lean back and into Baekhyun’s warm touch.

He takes a deep breath, mumbles in response, “Yeah, a bit,” before releasing his fingers from where he’s had them balled up. He doesn’t pull away – he _can’t_. This is a test, a test to see who gives into the other first, a test to see exactly how weak Kyungsoo’s resolve is when it comes to all things related to Baekhyun. A test to see if Kyungsoo does mean to keep his word, fulfill his end of the deal, if Kyungsoo will stick around until the very end when Baekhyun can bury his face in the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck without Kyungsoo wondering whether he should inhale the sharp scent in Baekhyun’s hair or push Baekhyun away.

Kyungsoo's muscles tense. Baekhyun seems to catch on, shifting in his position to accommodate and sliding his hand up to rest on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. As if that helps, Kyungsoo wants to say, but then it does. _Sort of._ Baekhyun’s pulling away with an easy smile, but he keeps his palms fastened to the jut of Kyungsoo’s bone, then runs his thumbs along the tense muscles on Kyungsoo’s back. Baekhyun could be pulling him even closer now, snaking his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist and tugging him close until they’re back to chest, hand to heart, but he isn’t. Instead, Baekhyun maintains a safe distance between, not quite close but not too far either.

"He's Joonmyun-hyung's hard version," Baekhyun whispers. He giggles the very next second, laughs, _cackles_ between attempts as saying, “I meant _tougher_ but–" The next thing Kyungsoo know,s Baekhyun's burying his face in Kyungsoo's back and slapping Kyungsoo's right arm hard, leaving a dull ache where the warm pads of Baekhyun’s fingers catch. " _The hard version–_ "

"Looks like you two are having fun," Minseok says over his shoulder. There's a peculiar glint in his eyes, in the subtle upward tug of his lips. The crowd has thinned now and the path has been cleared of the big boulders that were lying around earlier, but there's still some loose soil here and there. They should get to fixing that later. They should start patching this up– "Or maybe not. That must have hurt–"

Kyungsoo grimaces. Baekhyun's light jabs and slaps have turned into heavy hits and him twisting his knuckles in Kyungsoo's side. "Cut it," Kyungsoo says, but makes no effort to pull away, doesn't even move until Baekhyun has caught his breath again.

Baekhyun slinks away minutes after, halfway through their trip to Lake Uiam. Not on his own accord, though, but because he doesn't have a choice. Deeper into the path now, it has become impossible to walk a straight line without thinking twice about where to step or without asking Minseok if they're actually doing the right thing. "Are you _sure_ we can hop to that part? Because it looks like a trap," Baekhyun asks at one point, and Minseok's only response is, "If you're so afraid of falling into a trap then why don't you just fly over the patch of grass?"

"Gardevoir, can you take us to the other side?" Kyungsoo says, quick to draw out his Pokemon from the capsule before Baekhyun can even say more. Gardevoir nods without a second thought and grips them by their wrists, enveloping them in a thick layer of light. The ripping sensation crawling under Kyungsoo's skin hasn't waned, hasn't changed a bit even after Kirlia evolved into its final stage and after Gardevoir had unleashed its full potential when it mega evolved for the first time just hours ago. There's something about it, though, that feels a bit warmer than the usual, almost as if Gardevoir isn't just holding them by their wrists. It feels as if Gardevoir has its arms wrapped around them, carrying them to safety and away from the weird patch of grass on the ground.

The light fades, seeps into their skin in tiny freckles of sparkles. Gardevoir looks at Kyungsoo, then, peeking shyly through the slits of its hair and giving the sleeves of Kyungsoo's shirt a light tug. This is Gardevoir's way of saying, I know you hate the feeling you get whenever we teleport but _you know_ the consequences of having to use my power like this. Kyungsoo gets that, that everything he does will probably affect one person or a Pokemon negatively. He understands the need for power to ask for something in exchange – scars on his skin in for travelling to his desired destination in under a minute, a weird, sinking sensation at the pit of his stomach for Gardevoir cloaking him in a veil of protection. It's the same knowledge that helps him sleep at night sometimes, even if he can hear the earth moving beneath him, or even if he can feel the gentle hands of the winds turn into relentless whips that beat against his skin.

Minseok's steady steps draw to a gradual halt. Kyungsoo's eyebrows twitch in stimulus. "This... wasn't here before," Minseok mutters. "And I was here just the other day."

Kyungsoo looks around when he gets back to his feet. Nothing looks terribly off in the picture – there's a rocky path ahead of them, then trees to their left. A clearing to their right that reveals the expanse of Chuncheon-si, puts everything that the city has to offer on display. The burnt temple two blocks away from the gym sticks out like a sore thumb among the buildings nearing the completion of their repair. But then they're strangers to this place. And Minseok has lived here almost his entire life that there might be something that Kyungsoo and Baekhyun might be missing that Minseok can see so clearly even with one of his eyes closed.

"That temple over there, it wasn't there the other day. You–" Minseok laughs a little and shakes his head in accord. "You can't just build a temple in a day. That's impossible. Even with the help of Pokemon, you can't possible erect a temple like that in _just one day._ "

Kyungsoo cranes his neck and squints. He can make out the faint outline of the highest point of the tower, but can't seem to decipher the patterns on the walls of the 'temple' Minseok can see just yet. There's the faint figure of a tall, brown building, but it can easily be one of those illusions that psychic-type Pokemon love putting up to defend themselves from whoever tries to break into their territory. There’s nothing else worth noting, though, beyond the tower that looks more like a blur of color than anything else. It's just a vast plain, and then a lake at the back. More trees surrounding the area. This isn't something residents of Chuncheon-si should be alarmed about.

"Can't see anything," Baekhyun mutters. "Just that... brown building thing. The figure's too hazy. When did it start–" Baekhyun looks around them and frowns a little. "Whoa. When did this fog catch up with us?"

Kyungsoo wants to laugh. Or maybe even cry, whichever takes less effort and lifts the worry that has dropped to the pit of his stomach easier. If, before, Kyungsoo still questioned whether trouble just loved following them around then now he's certain. The dust cloud gathering before them, pebbles lifting off the ground, the skies turning dark in an instant and the clouds looming over them like they're trying to keep the three from going elsewhere, from escaping – this is trouble at work. It's just wearing a different mask this time around.

"Stick close," Kyungsoo says, then gestures for Minseok to come closer. They're only a few meters away from the lake itself and really, if they just run fast enough then they can reach the lake's sacred grounds and not worry about having to be attacked by another legendary Pokemon, but part of him wants to stay. Part of him wants to crouch low as he waits for the legendary Pokemon to arrive, wants to press his palms to the ground as he listens – for the shallow sound of breathing, for footsteps, for the shaking of the ground. And he can tell, by the way a corner of Minseok's mouth tugs up in response that Minseok wants this to, maybe even more than he does.

A flock of Starly fly by. "Stay low," Baekhyun whispers, then, reaching out to press down on the crown on Kyungsoo’s hair and coaxing him to stay closer to the ground. If they aren't in the middle of trying to figure out which legendary Pokemon is following them around then Kyungsoo would have already allowed himself to wonder why Baekhyun hasn't dropped his hand to his side yet. Or maybe he'd have fought back the thought, pinned it to the ground and beat it up until Baekhyun's smile ceased to tell him things he shouldn't be hearing at an inopportune time – so what's your hair regimen? Do you have any at all? Hey, your hair's really nice. If I could just bury my face in the strands _then maybe–_

"You're biting your lips too hard again," Baekhyun mutters. A heartbeat, and then, "Stop thinking too much."

Shut up, Kyungsoo's tempted to say, but circumstance gives him no chance to even breathe when something blazes from the skies, cutting through the wind in a sharp motion. It looks like a meteor, or maybe even... "A Pokemon?" he hears Baekhyun whisper under his breath. It can't be. No sane Pokemon would want to crash itself to the ground knowing that it will only injure itself and even drain all of its energy. No Pokemon in its right mind will even attempt to land safely despite falling from such a great height and at such a speed.

But they're in a war zone. The country still hasn't fully recovered from the war. And there _are_ Pokemon species that have changed from when Professor Kwon and her team first examined them _years before the war._ Kyungsoo has met some of those 'strange' Pokemon already – alternate-scolored, ’shiny' Pokemon, then a Girafarig whose patterns on its skin are now blotches of gold with white dots somewhere in between instead of the neat dark brown dots lined along the stretch of its back. A male Nidoran that can't kick at all because one of its legs is now smaller than the other, according to its trainer. Some Pokemon wearing either indecipherable inscriptions on their backs or simple designs, doodles, where there used to be just a plain splash of color.

Kyungsoo holds his arm up against his eyes, trying to shield his vision from the explosion, but to no avail – dust catches on his brows, dips inside his eyes and pricks his irises. He seethes but shuts his mouth tight soon after when the wind begins to blow harder. Beside him, he can see Minseok kneeling on the ground, chin tucked and eyes tightly shut. And then there's Baekhyun grabbing onto his own thighs, nails digging into his skin as Baekhyun tries to steady himself on the ground.

"This can't be just one legendary at work," Baekhyun mutters. He pokes an eye open, stealing a glance at Kyungsoo. He keeps blinking, though, and the winds just keep picking up, howling all around them in a loud, deafening shriek. "All the elements of a tri attack are here – the mini quake, the winds, and then the thunder–" Baekhyun starts coughing, _wheezing,_ and Kyungsoo rests his free hand atop Baekhyun's own when he feels Baekhyun's grip weaken and sees him ball his hand into a tight fist on the ground. "It makes perfect sense!"

What makes a lot of sense is Thundurus and Tornadus descending from the skies, battling it out as they slowly make themselves known to the people near the lakes, or even Landorus breaking through solid ground to stop the two from wrecking havoc on the rest of Gangwon-do. The genies appearing in front of them and plotting their death – that’s what makes sense, but nothing could have prepared them for the sight of a stag-like Pokemon becoming clearer right in front of them. The Pokemon has its head held high but its gaze is steady and focused on them as it shakes off the rubble. The whirling dust around the Pokemon slowly dissipates, lifting then fading into thin air as the Pokemon inches closer to them. Its steps are careful, calculated, but there's confidence in its stride, in the way it looks at them from head to toe, _discerning,_ like it's still deciding whether to drive them away and let them live or attack them right then and there with very little chance of survival.

The tips of its yellow horns glimmer against the slowly dimming light. It takes a few more steps forward, stuttering in its motion. It drags its hind legs a few steps into its journey closer to where Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Minseok are, but soon it's falling to its knees and letting out a wild, strangled cry.

"He's injured! Look at his leg–" Baekhyun points at the cuts drawn along the Pokemon's skin, nasty wounds still fresh and bleeding and _glowering_ at them. "Do you still have some of your serum– Shit, hang on–"

"Wait," Minseok mutters, holding his arm out and keeping Baekhyun from moving even closer. The Pokemon tries to get up, pushes itself back on all four legs, but it falls straight to the ground, lying on the unscathed legs. It wails, shrill and loud, and Kyungsoo winces. He shivers. He leans forward but leans right back when Minseok shakes his head. "Cobalion's injured, yes, but we'll have to wait for him to give us a go signal of sorts before we approach it. Otherwise, Cobalion will just attack us and injure itself all the more. Nobody wins."

Baekhyun grips the Potion tight in its hand. Inches closer by dragging his knees on the ground, trying not to grimace or even seethe. Kyungsoo grips him tight by the arm, then, shakes his head when Baekhyun tries to wriggle himself free from Kyungsoo's grasp. Kyungsoo can feel it, the quick shift of Baekhyun's muscles, the way he tries to power through Minseok's steady resolve and Kyungsoo's iron grip but doesn't quite exert enough force to really rid himself from Kyungsoo's hold. Kyungsoo loosens his grip on Baekhyun, nonetheless, when he feels Baekhyun relax against his skin, when he catches the rhythmic rise and fall of Baekhyun's chest that's a stark contrast from how he'd been taking short and quick breaths earlier.

"Listen to him. You know how hostile some Pokemon can be," Kyungsoo says, dropping his voice to just barely above a whisper. He looks at Minseok for confirmation, a sign, and Minseok only shakes his head in response. "You said the Pokemon's name is Cobalion, right? I've... never heard of him before."

Minseok takes a deep breath and coughs into the cocoon of his hands. The air around them is still a bit dusty even if the winds have ceased to whip at them and lift the dirt off the ground. Kyungsoo blows at a few specks of dust on the tip of his nose, but he only ever succeeds in loosening the hold of the sand in his hair and making the specks cling to his skin. "Cobalion is... He's the leader of the Swords of Justice," Minseok begins, turning to his side to face the other two. "And the Swords is a group of four Pokemon that look a bit like Cobalion, all walking on four feet and sharing a common type – fighting. According to the legend, Cobalion has fought humans in the past in order to protect Pokemon from abusive trainers, but there haven't been any... tangible records of the attacks. No pictures, just... accounts," he explains. He pauses for a while, scratching the tip of his nose. Kyungsoo can't help but wrinkle his own in response. Baekhyun sneezes, but manages to press the back of his hand to his tight-pressed lips in time. "Some say Cobalion – and the rest of the Swords – hate humans, but from what I've seen they just take longer to warm up to people than most Pokemon."

"You've seen him before?" Baekhyun asks. Minseok nods, just one gentle bob of the head like his slightest movement will disrupt Cobalion's peace. "How many times?"

"Does it matter?" Minseok replies, scoffing. "I saw him battle it out with a couple of trainers during the war. Cobalion spared me not just once. I should just be thankful I'm alive."

Kyungsoo squints a little. From where he is, it looks as if Cobalion's craning its neck, trying to look for something, _someone_ , and calling out a name. It's the same stream of sounds every time Cobalion wails or screams, the same set of notes ringing in Kyungsoo's ears like Cobalion's talking to someone in particular. But who?

"I think it does," Kyungsoo whispers, then, turning to look at Minseok. He checks Cobalion – still looking around and moving its neck until it makes eye contact with Kyungsoo. "You said you were here _before_ the quake, right? Did you see Cobalion then?"

Minseok blinks sa few times. He furrows his eyebrows for a moment, then answers, "Cobalion's always around, watching over the Pokemon. It's almost impossible not to see him–"

There's the sound of rustling in the distance, then a set of footsteps rushing from one place to another. It sounds like a herd of Ponyta playing on the field, or maybe even some Tauros falling in line for food, feet getting heavier with each passing step. Pokemon, not humans. Kyungsoo keeps his gaze fixed on Minseok, unwavering. "Did you _see_ him that time?"

Minseok parts his lips to speak. Licks his lips a few times like every swipe of the tongue will help him gather his words again, the syllables having already stumbled from the corners of his mouth when the ground shook. He looks around, then, cranes his neck to check Cobalion, then shifts his gaze back to Kyungsoo. "I... I did," he confesses after a while. "That's the reason I brought you here." His voice drops to a whisper, a thin sheet of silence easily broken by the sound of Baekhyun's gurgling, a mix of a gasp and a _what_ and something Kyungsoo can't decipher just yet. "I really did want to ask for your help on the Lake Trio but the message from the Swords was what urged me to seek you out. I just couldn't tell you earlier, or even back in the Pokemon Center," Minseok continues. "The Swords are not legendary Pokemon we usually talk about. The mere mention of them to people here in Gangwon-do strikes fear upon the people. The residents know what the Swords are capable of, and that's exactly why the region has been peaceful these recent months."

"Does Professor Kwon know, though?" Baekhyun asks. The footsteps have become louder, _heavier,_ shaking up the ground again in the same manner that it sparked the earthquake earlier. "I mean, you two know each other from way, way back, right? You seemed pretty close while you were talking earlier."

Minseok laughs a little. He lifts his eyebrows for a bit, a corner of his lips tugging up in accord. "We know each other, that's all I'm willing to say," he replies, then presses his lips together in a thin, thin line. If Kyungsoo squints hard enough then maybe he'll see something scrawled on the bright red flesh of Minseok's mouth, but then Minseok has already put up an impenetrable wall around him, much like the thin, unassuming veil Professor Kwon drapes all over her to keep other people from getting past few defenses. "And yes, she knows about it. She wouldn't put you two in harm's way if she didn't know what I was getting her favorite trainers into."

 _Favorite trainers._ Kyungsoo feels his heart leap for a moment. Professor Kwon has never quite shown fondness for any of them – she always treated them equally, smiled at Kyungsoo whenever Baekhyun made her laugh. Checked on Soojung and Sunyoung after Baekhyun and Kyungsoo reported their observations on the changes in the Pokemon after the war for the day. She didn't even favor a particular Nurse Jinri even if they all looked and talked the same in all the places that Kyungsoo has been to. But then everyone's allowed to their own secrets – Professor Kwon being friends, or at least acquaintances, with both Seungsoo and Baekbeom. Minseok calling Professor Kwon by just her last name too many times like it was normal for him to drop her surname like that in formal conversations. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo's unspoken promise to each other that after this mission, _after all the chaos,_ maybe they can try to sort things out, make things work, if there's anything to work out at all.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, exhales soft and steady in a stream of air that he cups with his hands. Minseok isn't the type of person to inflate other people's egos in the middle of a legendary encounter, either, so he'll let himself bask in the warmth of Minseok's words for a quick second. Then it's back to work, back to this moment where they're trying to see if Cobalion's willing to let them come closer, willing to let them lend a hand and save it from imminent death.

"Hyung– I'm sorry, I mean _leader,_ " Baekhyun mumbles as he tugs on the sleeve of Minseok's shirt. From a corner of Kyungsoo's eye, he catches Baekhyun looking, so he follows Baekhyun's gaze and shifts his attention to Cobalion. "He's holding his head low. That's a sign of submission, isn't it? Maybe we should approach Cobalion now."

"Right," Minseok says, nodding. With a deep breath, he pushes himself up on two feet again, keeping his steps light and careful as he inches closer to Cobalion. "Come, I'll introduce you to the leader."

Cobalion isn't as hostile as it looks when Minseok's running his hand along the stretch of its back, coaxing the Pokemon to relax. "We'll be quick, but this will hurt. Just... it has to be done," he tells the Pokemon, then gives Kyungsoo a nod before resuming rubbing lazy stripes on Cobalion's body with his palm. Cobalion jerks its legs at the first contact of the antiseptic, almost knocks off the other bottles Kyungsoo has lined beside him to make the procedure quicker, but Baekhyun is quick to hold Cobalion down with light hands and a gentle touch.

"Not too bad, Byun," Minseok says. Baekhyun grins in response, the corners of his mouth pulling up too hard that the smile crinkles the corners of his eyes. "And you two can call me 'hyung'. Not many people can handle Cobalion like this," he explains, "And by earning the Legend's respect, you have earned mine."

"Let's save the serious talk for later," Baekhyun mumbles. There's still a hint of a smile in his tone, though, voice lilting even as Cobalion jerks its legs harder and hits both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun – Kyungsoo in the gut, and Baekhyun on the arm even if he manages to move to the side. "Easy, now–"

"You alright?" Kyungsoo asks on impulse, lifting his gaze to meet Baekhyun's eyes. Baekhyun looks... unharmed, for the most part, but there are at least three scratches on his skin that look too bright and red to not be fresh wounds from this recent attack. He leans in, hovering for a moment, but soon the dull ache in his ribs assaults him and keeps him in place. C'mon, he tells his body, it's not as if he wanted to _really reach out._ He just wanted to see the wounds, wanted to see if Baekhyun wore scars just as good as he did. He wasn't going to lean in to _touch._ Whatever bullshit answer that Baekhyun gives him, he'll take. _So cooperate,_ says a voice at the back of his mind. _It's just an innocent question._

"Yeah," Baekhyun mutters. He peeks through the slits of his bangs and offers Kyungsoo a small smile. Or half a smile, at least, because the next thing Kyungsoo knows one corner of Baekhyun's mouth has already pulled down into a frown. And Baekhyun is looking at his wounds with furrowed eyebrows as he asks, "You?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He tries to shake off the pain, tries to bury it beneath responsibility, the mission, but every deep breath just makes him feel the burn of the hit all the more. He gives it a shot, nonetheless, tries to even out his breathing and catch up with his heart that's already racing in his chest. No gashes anywhere, and certainly no cuts. His stomach just feels like it's been caught in a weird twist, sort of like whenever Baekhyun twists his fists in Kyungsoo's shirt to pull him closer–

"I'll live," Kyungsoo answers. He clears his throat, trying to flush down the other words knocking at the back of his teeth. They keep tickling his throat, though. At least that has taken away the pain from his gut and it's easier, so much easier to deal with a fucked up throat than with a weird, sinking sensation at the pit of his stomach, the heavy thumping in his chest, the wild beating of his pulse, all of which Baekhyun can spark in him. "I'll take some medicine later. For now–"

Kyungsoo moves closer to Cobalion and tilts his head, searching for the Pokemon's gaze. Eye contact makes it easier to communicate with Pokemon, makes it easier to win their trust and try to make them calm down despite the deep cuts on their skin. "Full Heal," he mutters, holding out one hand in Baekhyun's direction, and Baekhyun reaches for the green bottle to place it on Kyungsoo's palm. A few pumps of the spray and Cobalion stops kicking in the air and anything it can hit, stops twitching, but the wounds are still glowing an angry shade of red even if a Pokemon – any Pokemon, no matter how young or old – takes only a couple of seconds to start showing signs of improvement when it comes to wounds like this. So Kyungsoo tries to use a sedative, one of those berry blends he'd made before that helped Ralts come down at night, after the war.

"No luck," Minseok whispers. He gives Cobalion's head a light pat, then mutters, "Sorry, buddy. But we won't give up. We'll try our best–"

"I'll need Enigma berries–" Kyungsoo stops short, holds Minseok's gaze as if asking, possibly for the nth time since they've met, is it okay to call you hyung? You're a member of the League; shouldn't you be imposing your leader status on us? But Minseok isn't that kind of person. Minseok is the type of leader who would solicit people's advice on how they wanted to arrange the beds in the gym to accommodate almost all the victims and somehow find a way to throw in his own suggestions, improvements he can see himself doing to make the experience better. Minseok is the type of leader who'd walk into a room, commanding respect with the way he holds his head up high and looks down at people with discerning eyes and a small, calculated smile. He's the type of man who wouldn't ever play around, simply sticking to something he's already tried countless of times that he knows the chances of failing are very slim.

"Hyung, I... will need some Enigma berries. It's impossible to heal up Cobalion with just these low grade berries," Kyungsoo continues after a while. He presses down on Cobalion's uninjured leg and gives it a gentle stroke. "And these wounds aren't something you get from a battle. Or even from a natural disaster, unless Cobalion fell between the cracks. But at the speed it was moving earlier, I'm certain it wouldn't have gotten itself… wedged between the cracks–"

Minseok looks up from where he's been whispering a mantra under his breath close to Cobalion's ear. It sounds like a prayer, or maybe even one of those spells from elders that they've passed on to the younger generation. Kyungsoo feels a cold shiver crawl up his spine, settling on his name and making his senses tingle, but it's easy to shake it off with the way Minseok is studying him a focused gaze. "You mean these are... caused by machines or something?" Minseok asks. Kyungsoo shakes his head, drops his gaze back to Cobalion when the Pokemon begins to whimper. "Or that Cobalion tried to fight off–"

"–some humans," Baekhyun whispers, then turns to look at Kyungsoo. " _Or maybe_ it was trying to bring back something that's always been rightfully Chuncheon-si's," he continues, shifting his gaze to Minseok. Cobalion's jerking has stilled and its pulse feels normal again. Kyungsoo applies just a bit more of the serum, though, when he sees Cobalion absorbing the liquid at once. He should still have enough to feed Cobalion with later. "What if it found the Lake trio and was actually hoping to bring them back here to the Lake?"

"Or what if–" Minseok breathes out, blows at the bangs beginning to prickle his eyes. "Can you stay here? I'm certain I saw something earlier. I just have to double-check; maybe after that we'll have answers."

"We'll be right here," Kyungsoo says. He offers Minseok a small smile when Minseok stops in his tracks to look over his shoulder. "And take this, hyung." Kyungsoo reaches from deep inside the front pocket of his bag, then tosses a yellow bottle in Minseok's direction. "Just in case you run into any Pokemon. It's getting late and you can't battle in that state–"

Minseok rolls his eyes, shakes his head, offers Kyungsoo light laughter in response. "You worry too much," is all that he says before turning on his heel completely, disappearing behind the bushes and from their sight.

Baekhyun sits beside him in companionable silence after that. Their hands brush against each other from time to time, when Baekhyun reaches over to check a bruise on Cobalion he'd missed earlier, to study the inscription on its horns, or even that peculiar mark that looks a lot like a logo on one of its hind legs. Baekhyun doesn't utter a word, not even a sound, but the way he inches closer with each passing breath, the way he presses his arm against Kyungsoo's side and just stays there, not bothered by the dust that has clung to Kyungsoo's skin or the heat making the slide of their arms sticky speak volumes of the thoughts running through Baekhyun's head at the moment – that they're lucky to be alive, lucky to not have been pushed apart by circumstance and the disaster. Lucky to still be able to think straight after being almost assaulted by a legendary Pokemon that was known to have fought humans who tried to enslave Pokemon years ago. Baekhyun's gonna fucking stick around for as long as he likes but will try his hardest to stick to his promise of putting the mission before whatever things they have to sort out. And Kyungsoo will have to deal with it, somehow.

"Seriously, how are you?" Kyungsoo asks after a while, breaking the ice. Baekhyun looks up at him, addressing him with weary eyes and a faint smile pulling up his lips. "Because if you have any big wounds, I can save some of the serum for you–"

"Nah, I'm good. Just save it for the Pokemon," Baekhyun replies. The last syllable dangles from his tongue but doesn't quite spill from the corners of his mouth, stays there as Baekhyun hangs his lips parted like he's about to say something but doesn't want to. "Yeah, I'm good. I mean, I'm just–"

Cobalion isn't flinching anymore. It hasn't been whimpering or kicking the air in pain or even shooting Kyungsoo a careful, careful gaze in the past few minutes, so Kyungsoo drops his left hand from where he's been easing the pain on Cobalion's back, its legs, parts of the legendary Pokemon that Kyungsoo can reach with the stroke of his thumbs and snakes an arm around Baekhyun's shoulder. Baekhyun stiffens. Kyungsoo can feel the sudden shift of Baekhyun's muscles, can feel the brush of the sleeve of his shirt against Kyungsoo's own when his chest rises as he takes a deep breath. And he can feel his pulse beating loud and strong in his palms, at the base of his throat, the back of his knees, parts of him that Baekhyun isn't even touching but is setting aflame.

"No wounds, right?" Baekhyun asks. Kyungsoo's breath hitches for a moment, and then he's nodding at Baekhyun in affirmation. "Okay. That's all I needed to know."

Slowly, he feels the shift of weight beside him, almost as if Baekhyun can't find a comfortable position yet, like he's testing the waters. Soon, Baekhyun's slumping against him, making a low gurgling noise at the back of his throat as their bodies align. Baekhyun rests his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder and tilts his face up, just close enough that Kyungsoo can just cock his head to the side to feel Baekhyun's lips brush against his skin if he wants to. But Kyungsoo doesn't. He doesn't _need_ that kind of warmth right now, not when Baekhyun's already dancing his fingers on the skin just above Kyungsoo's knee and leaving a patch of heat everywhere he touches. Not now that Baekhyun's too pliant and willing, or now that Kyungsoo feels a bit too tired to put up a fight with the better half of his senses. They're both worn out. Radioactive. It's bad timing, Kyungsoo knows, but when you're living every day of your life like it's your last you begin to think that every breathing moment is the _right moment for anything._

So, a compromise: he pushes Baekhyun's hand up to his thigh, just blinking for the quickest second when he feels Baekhyun's nails scratching his skin. He fits his fingers between Baekhyun's own and keeps Baekhyun in place even when he feels Baekhyun's fingers tremble and jerk in the tight press of their bodies. If Baekhyun ever asks what this means, he'll answer that friends should stick together especially in the time of war. When you're traveling from one place to another and leaving pieces of yourself in every city you go to, losing part of yourself with every forward step, it's only natural to want to have a semblance of home to hold onto. A thick rope that you can grip with both hands for fear of the crowd carrying you farther away from home.

They stay like that for the next few minutes, shifting only when Cobalion lets out a low grunt or when they hear footsteps. "I found some Enigma berries up there. At the Center," Minseok says when he returns some twenty, thirty minutes after, then holds out one hand in Kyungsoo's direction to help him get up. He doesn't hand over the berries to Kyungsoo yet, though, until Kyungsoo has dusted himself off because, "Just do the mixing when we get to the Center. You'll find the equipment you need there. Making a serum will be easier," he explains. "And the sooner we get to the Center, the sooner we can move to the next phase. We can't slack off now; we don't have much time."

Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows. He gets up and grips his knees tight, then straightens up a few seconds after. "I know the Snorlax attack was alarming as hell but we can't just rush the investigation." He scoffs. "You _know_ that, hyung–"

"I got new information on the situation," Minseok says, voice firm and resolute. He shoots a look in Kyungsoo's direction, then adds, "We'll talk about it elsewhere, but soon. Just not now. There might be people watching us." He takes a deep breath, pausing in his speech, then adds, "We can't be too sure."

"There's _someone else_ in the forest right now?"

"There are _people_ other than us who could be hiding here," Minseok explains, voice dropping to a whisper. He reaches over, trying to assist Cobalion in getting up, and the other two rush to his side. "So no more questions. You'll understand when we get there. It's not safe here."

But it's never safe anywhere these days, Kyungsoo wants to argue. Even the Pokemon Center carries with it certain risks that other establishments don't. Maybe some of the trainers who have gone rouge but have kept their secret affiliation with Team Rocket underground frequent the Centers Kyungsoo has been to. Maybe they're just sitting there, pretending to mind their own business while watching people come in and out of the place. Maybe Kyungsoo bumped into one of them in the past; who knows, right? But now is not the time to be questioning people, not the time to be doubting one of the few people that Kyungsoo is positive means well. So he keeps his questions to himself, helps both Minseok and Baekhyun assist Cobalion back to its feet, and keeps careful watch over the legendary Pokemon accompanying them on their trip. Maybe through this they can help Cobalion restore its faith in humankind after those trying times.

It won't be easy, but they won't give up. They can't give up now.


	4. hot and cold: melting the ice cold resolve in chuncheon-si

Sunyoung welcomes them to the Center as soon as they arrive, arms held wide open as she beams at them. "It's almost evening and you're still _this_ hyper?" Baekhyun groans, but it won't take a genius to know that Baekhyun's just kidding around. Not with the silly smile on his lips, tugging too hard at the corners of his mouth, or the way he just takes one jab from Sunyoung after another, letting out a stream of laughter peppered with ow's. "I thought we were here to _rest!_ " Baekhyun comments after that, and that's when Sunyoung slaps him hard on the arm. Baekhyun ends up yelping, pounding his splayed fingers on the wall he rests head on in pain. The smile on his lips hasn't waned yet, though, even when he says, "You are the _absolute worst!_ "

"I hand-picked some Nomel berries for you, by the way," Sunyoung tells Kyungsoo, looking over her shoulder. She tugs at Baekhyun's shirtsleeve to pull him to the trainer's quarters, and Kyungsoo shakes his head vigorously, mouthing, 'nasty cuts, some open wounds, _don't do it–_ ' "There's a huge field of Pinap berries at the back but they don't look too top-grade. I mean, what would you expect from a tiny Pokemon Center in a deserted land, right?"

"Thank you," Kyungsoo mutters, then snakes an arm around Sunyoung for a quick hug. "Why are you even here? Weren't you supposed to be in Gangneung already?"

"Well, I was supposed to until–" She pauses, looking around, then rests her hand on the small of Baekhyun's back. She gives him a light push, guiding him to the path to the trainer's quarters. The words dangle from her lips from a few quick minutes, as they venture deeper into the Center. Kyungsoo feels his stomach turning a little, feels a weird, burning sensation at the pit of his stomach, but he shakes that off. Whatever happened to Sunyoung, she was able to triumph over. She's mostly unscathed, after all – apart from the gash on her cheek that could've just been from training, she looks like she's in tip-top shape.

Baekhyun makes a beeline for the couch and tosses his bag to the side as soon as they get inside. Kyungsoo takes his time walking, dragging the foot with his still aching ankle, and settles just a few inches away from Baekhyun. He leans back against the cushion and throws his head back, shuts his eyes, opens them only when he feels a familiar warmth inching closer to his side.

He pokes one eye open when he hears a low 'ow' beside him. "What do you carry around in your bag, iron or something?" Baekhyun groans, then leans his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder. "No wonder you're so tiny–"

" _Hey,_ " Sunyoung bellows, then kicks Baekhyun's outstretched leg. Mumbles a soft apology soon after, when she catches sight of Kyungsoo cocking an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, as I was saying, I was supposed to get there this... morning? Yeah, this morning," she continues, then finds a comfortable spot on the couch just beside Baekhyun. From a corner of Kyungsoo's eyes, he can see her stretching her arms overhead, then leaning on Baekhyun until her head finds a nice fit on his shoulder. His stomach rumbles. The last meal he has was some four, five hours ago; he should probably grab something to eat or whip up something for himself and Baekhyun. _Maybe._ "But then I ran into some group of goons in black. _All black,_ from head to toe, at the height of summer. Not weird at all."

"Sounds a lot like Team Rocket," Kyungsoo mumbles. Baekhyun snorts, puffs of his hot breath clinging to the underside of Kyungsoo's jaw. Kyungsoo shivers a little. What are you doing, he means to ask, but Baekhyun gives him no time to think, much less gather his words again for a clumsy enunciation, when Baekhyun slips his fingers between Kyungsoo's own. So he clears his throat, tries to steady his voice when he says, "Though they were last seen before the end of the war. Giratina supposedly brought the members to the Distortion World after he made peace with Arceus."

"Well, they're back, lemme tell you that," Sunyoung mumbles. She sits up, straightening out her legs, and grunts a little when she massages her knees. "I don't know how but I know a Rocket Grunt when I see one. They weren't wearing their usual Rocket suits anymore, not with the big red 'R', but there's a certain–"

A certain air to them, perhaps that's what Sunyoung means to say, but her voice has already thinned to silence. She presses her lips together in a tight fit, a straight line so impenetrable that Kyungsoo wonders why she's holding back. Everyone knows what the Rockets have done – they attempted to capture all the legendary Pokemon to awaken the god of all Pokemon, Arceus. Ended up using them to steal Pokemon from other trainers and convince the trainers that what they're doing? The whole training Pokemon thing to raise them to be the best Pokemon they can be, to bring out their full potential? It's all a joke, according to them. They made people believe the League was just using trainers to gain control over all the little places in the world, every town, country, city, province. So their solution was to 'liberate' the Pokemon, make the trainers release them from their capsules for good so that Team Rocket may recruit them to the other side, help them defeat the legendary Pokemon in battle and eventually become the single, most powerful organization in the world. It was as sinister as most sinister plans were, and they were successful at one point – nearly half the total population of trainers in South Korea alone blindly followed Team Rocket's instructions out of love for their Pokemon.

"They..." Sunyoung takes a deep breath, worrying her bottom lip before she continues. "They look much stronger now. I mean, when you have a base camp the size of the entire Odaesan then I can only imagine the size of their new army."

"Hold up," Baekhyun mutters. "The _entire_ mountain? As in the whole thing? Can’t be true. I mean–“ He snorts, furrows his eyebrows, shakes his head. Swallows hard and takes a deep breath, shoulders lifting in accord. "What about the Pokemon living there? Did they drive them out or something? Catch ‘em all?"

"I didn't see much of the facilify inside," Sunyoung replies. Her body gives a tiny jerk, muscle memory hitting her ten times harder than it should. Kyungsoo winces a little, squints his eyes. Tries hard not to cringe because Baekhyun's body slumped against his has become heavier, more worn out than before with just the mental image of Pokemon falling prey to Team Rocket's evil plans. "But from wherever I reached I saw cages and Pokemon plugged to machines. Like they're testing something out on the Pokemon. A... new kind of evolution?"

Kyungsoo feels Baekhyun shift in his seat in thoughtless response, the material of their clothes rustling. He stiffens, the muscles in back turning tense. It's nearing the end of summer but it _isn’t summer yet,_ heat clinging to their calves even in the evening, but all he can feel right now is a rush of cold. Baekhyun's hold on him tightens. The expression on Sunyoung's features shifts between something pained and something... vacant. And can feel his insides turning, can feel sparks setting off at the tips of his toes. It feels like that time two years ago when he woke up to Seungsoo's panicked voice, to Seungsoo's tear-stricken face as his brother said, "C'mon, Kyungsoo, get up– We need to get up for umma and appa. They'll want us to continue no matter what happens–"

"Mega evolution," Kyungsoo mutters without a second thought. He takes a deep breath and cranes his neck to lock gazes with Sunyoung, but soon regrets it when he sees the beading tears at the corners of her eyes. Sunyoung, ever bright and cheerful, now suddenly struck and crippled by fear – this is something foreign to him. In the years they've spent growing and learning alongside each other, this is the only time he's seen Sunyoung so small, so... helpless. "It's mega evolution, isn't it?"

"The one with weird, species-specific stones and a pendant for trainers, yes," Sunyoung says. She scoffs, laughs, but for the most part what comes out is a dry wheeze. "I've heard about it before from Professor Shim and I know it's not all bad but–" She shakes her head, furrows her eyebrows. Shuts her eyes for the briefest moment then opens them again as if trying to collect all of her strength once more. "You know what I mean, right? Just... Just knowing that Team Rocket is experimenting on Pokemon, trying to harness this greater power so they can potentially use Pokemon as tools again – it just makes me feel so–"

"Uncertain," Baekhyun finishes. He looks to his right for a moment, meeting Sunyoung's gaze. From where Kyungsoo is, he can make out the faint upward tug on a corner of Baekhyun's lips, but the strain on his cheeks is evident. He hasn't spent years walking beside Baekhyun to not know what the trembling of Baekhyun's cheek muscles means, or what the cool pads of Baekhyun's fingers drumming an indiscernible beat on his skin is trying to say.

Kyungsoo steals a glance at the gem gleaming in his ring. Baekhyun's wearing an identical one on his left hand, the one he's holding Kyungsoo with. It feels cool against the back of his palm, makes him shiver just a little. "Makes me wonder if we're actually doing the right thing," Baekhyun continues after a while, then shoves his free hand in his face. "Ugh, this is _exactly_ what Team Rocket wants to happen! I can't believe we're actually falling for it!"

Sunyoung lets out faint laughter, her shoulders shaking a little as the sound spills from her lips. It lifts the corners of her mouth, lifts some of the tension in her muscles and lightens up her features. Kyungsoo can I.D. this look from a mild away – he'd seen Sunyoung wear this before, when they saw Joonmyun linking hands with a girl a few years his senior. She was supposed to finally walk up to him and maybe talk to him about one of Joonmyun's fishing exploits. She's always been a fan of marine life; Joonmyun just made it even easier to express her love for the sea creatures out in the open.

"Shut up. Don't say anything," Kyungsoo recalls Sunyoung mumbling as she bunched her skirt, pulling it all the way from her ankles to her knees. Her shoulders were shaking then. She said she wasn't sad or anything, said she just needed some time alone, away from Joonmyun, from someone who was about to leave the island and possibly not return in the next few years. So they asked no more, simply stood at the shore and watched Sunyoung march off into the sea, head hung low. That was all they needed to know that time – Joonmyun was about to leave, Sunyoung was _going to be alright,_ a series of conversations with someone you likes almost always results in feeling something stronger bubbling inside you. Something intense. Feelings complicate everything, fuck everything up.

The only difference now, Kyungsoo muses, is that Sunyoung recovers faster. She shakes her head and resurfaces with a casual smile. "Almost, just almost," she says. "I'm pretty sure we won't be going down the path of those people who _did_ turn rogue and hand their Pokemon over."

"Some faith you have there," Baekhyun mumbles. He moves even closer, almost burying his face in the crook of Kyungsoo's neck as he does so but doesn't quite go for it. He just maintains a good centimeter between them, the only thing that's touching the underside of Kyungsoo's jaw being Baekhyun's hot breath tickling his skin. Kyungsoo does his part, then, stays dangerously still even as Baekhyun tightens his hold on Kyungsoo's hand. The slide of their skin is hot, almost sticky, and if Kyungsoo just hasn't been worn down by the day so much to not have the energy to flinch and inch away then he would. He'd save himself a little and give Baekhyun something to go after, someone to chase.

Excuses, a voice at the back of his mind says. He shuns that tone away, pushes the thought to the very back of his mind until Minseok comes knocking on the door and inviting them to the main office for a quick bite.

Dinner is a combination of a bunch of berries from the back and some other vegetables from wherever Nurse Jinri had gotten them. "Just a little something to feast on," she begins, offering them a curt bow as she lays the tray on the table. "We're... running on very limited resources, as you can probably tell. The food should leave you feeling refreshed and revitalized, though!" There are all sorts of soups, boiled vegetables, chilled berries. Sunyoung seems to be thrilled; Baekhyun, not so much. If the way the corners of his mouth quiver as Nurse Jinri places the tray on the table is anything to go by then Kyungsoo's certain Baekhyun hasn't had the best experience with neither vegetables nor fruits in the recent past.

“Didn’t you… like veggies before?" Kyungsoo asks, whispering into the very thin distance between them. “Weren’t you the biggest fan?" Baekhyun shakes his head, furrows his eyebrows as if saying, really, now? Do you even know me? There's a hint of disappointment in the way he widens his eyes and cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo, but the slight quirk of his lips softens the blow a bit. Makes the look feel more like Baekhyun trying to keep himself from giggling silly and slapping Kyungsoo in the arm in lieu of saying, y'know what? You can be funny sometimes. But _only sometimes–_

" _Never,_ " Baekhyun mumbles in response. He laughs, snorts, coughs when Nurse Jinri looks in his direction. "Only two people can make me eat veggies. Umma cooks very good veggie dishes."

Kyungsoo scoffs. "And who would the other person be?"

Baekhyun widens his eyes, the hard angle of the grin on his lips softening into something more relaxed. Something more... Baekhyun. "You tell me," he replies after a while, voice lilting somewhere along the way. He wiggles his eyebrows, then worries his bottom lip a bit before taking a sip of the berry soup. It's almost as if he wants to say more, but he never pushes through with it. Keeps his lips slightly parted, just enough to make Kyungsoo wonder what Baekhyun was hoping to say if circumstance – the people around them, the mission at hand, who they are – allowed him to be a bit more reckless instead of the model trainer he was supposed to be.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Focus, he tells himself as Baekhyun takes a sharp inhale, his chapped lips just grazing Kyungsoo's skin in a soft, light touch. Barely there. Right in front of him, Minseok has been discussing something about strategic locations and seeing holes from the sky. A few inches away, Sunyoung's getting pretty into it, hands caught in an elaborate gesture somewhere between Minseok dissecting the way Team Rocket's new base has been constructed. Exactly the kind of distraction he needs, he muses as he curls in his fingers into tight fists. He shifts his attention to that, then, makes sure that Minseok doesn't give him a questioning look again as if Kyungsoo had, in fact, been listening to his narration of how the poison bombs tracing a path to the capital, Seoul, were found.

"So the poison bombs have been... detonated or whatever, right?" Baekhyun asks. He doesn't inch closer to Kyungsoo this time, but maybe it's because he's too busy trying not to spill his food while sipping the soup. "Should we be moving to Gangneung, then, after we get our badges? So we can start looking for those three other infiltration bases you were talking about earlier?"

Kyungsoo snorts. Part of him wants to roll his eyes and laugh at Baekhyun silly because he knows very well that Baekhyun had only started listening five minutes ago. The infiltration bases talk happened ten minutes before that, when Baekhyun was dancing his fingers over to where Kyungsoo was and Kyungsoo was trying his best to not give in. Trust Baekhyun to be able to split his attention in times of need, when he's caught between the web of his duty and his own interests. Trust Baekhyun to be an expert at multi-tasking – mind on the matter at hand, his heart cocooned elsewhere. And trust Baekhyun to know exactly what Kyungsoo is thinking of when Kyungsoo's lets out a soft snort, when their limbs collide, caught in a messy tangle of bodies.

"I'm getting to that part," Minseok says through gritted teeth, the corners pulled up to a tight smile. From a corner of Kyungsoo's eye, he sees Baekhyun's body give a tiny jerk. He shivers a little. Or maybe it's just his shoulders shaking, light laughter beginning to trickle from his lips to his limbs when he sees Baekhyun dropping his gaze to his feet in an instant. Sunyoung does Kyungsoo a favor, though, cackling before she remembers that they're in the presence of a member of the League. Minseok only shakes his head in dismissal, turning his attention back to Baekhyun as he says, "As I was saying, _yes,_ we'll need you to look for the other infiltration tunnels, but the first thing you have to do is to... actually infiltrate the first camp."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows and leans back a little. "You're asking us to get inside an evil organization's camp, is that what you're trying to say?" he asks, more to reiterate the _asking a bunch of twenty-year-olds_ to infiltrate a hideout filled with people known to be powerful and persuasive enough to move an entire nation to surrender their Pokemon to them than anything else. Minseok looks up, shrugs, laughs a little in response like he'd seen this coming. Like he's half expecting them to say no, hyung, this is a bad idea. Whoever thought of it is _really stupid_ , and half hoping they'd say yes despite how weird the whole idea sounds. Kyungsoo tries to cough up a laugh, then, but for the most part it sounds as if he's wheezing. Sure, they've gone through all of these tests and have emerged triumphant from them, but the legendary Pokemon didn't mean to bring any harm. These Rocket goons? They're out to steal, to kill. They are not people inexperienced trainers should be dealing with. "The three – or four, if Soojung's part of the job – of us, you want us to get inside the camp–"

"I expected better from you," Minseok mumbles. He shakes his head. Kyungsoo feels something drop inside him, swell at the pit of his stomach and consume him from the inside. He gulps hard, then, holding both his breath and Minseok's careful gaze as Minseok twists his mouth before continuing. "I don't need to repeat what I said. And you don't need to interpret it any other way; it is what it is."

"It sounds pretty ridiculous," Sunyoung whispers. She drops her gaze to her feet, pressed side to side, then mumbles, "Sorry." The look on her face betrays her words, though, because there's no remorse in the way the corners of her lips pull up into a tight smile, or the way her chest heaves when she takes a deep breath and puffs out in a loud exhale. "I mean, sure, we're more than decent trainers but isn't this something that... I dunno, the League will be able to handle better?"

"The legendary Pokemon have chosen you," Minseok reasons. He shifts in his seat, then undoes the first button of the white polo, cracking his neck as he goes along. He slumps his shoulders forward and exhales, sort of like that single, tiny action has helped him relax a bit. Breathe more easily and try to forget all the other layers of problems that they have to peel off. He leans back, then, the tense corners of his mouth easing into something that... looks a lot like defeat that he's still trying to mask with the tight knot of his eyebrows. "If I had my way, Sunyoung, _if I had my way,_ I wouldn't be letting you four go out on an adventure to hunt Team Rocket down. That's not something any responsible member of the League would do," he continues. "But these legendary Pokemon chose you – mostly Kyungsoo, but they've _showed themselves to you three first_ before attacking you. Soojung got attacked by one of the genies after the genie tried to tell her something, her Pokemon knew that. Kyungsoo was assaulted _as a warning,_ because Seoul's slowly deteriorating and something shady has been happening there for a while already. And besides, the members of the League–“ He scoffs, shaking his head. “Some of them, we can’t trust. This tiny group of ours? You four plus… a couple others? You’re the only ones I trust, nobody else."

Kyungsoo swallows hard around the tightness in his throat, trying to push down that lump keeping him from breathing easily. He should've understood, should've known that Minseok would never put them in harm's way; Professor Kwon would kick him in the ass if he did. And with the way Minseok treated the residents in need after that Snorlax attack, Kyungsoo is certain that it would be uncharacteristic of Minseok to ever want to bring harm upon anyone.

"You'll be tracking us," Kyungsoo declares soon after. Minseok tilts his head in Kyungsoo’s direction in response. "That was what you were supposed to say earlier, after telling us that you'll have to send us out there. Professor Kwon's known to be... extra paranoid with these things."

Minseok scoffs. "She is," he mutters in reply. He leans back against the head rest of the couch, letting out a loud exhale as he closes his eyes. "So we'll... sort of be with you throughout the operation. We're getting in touch with other gym leaders across the country – _yes,_ there are still those we can trust – to secure their cities or regions and be extra alert on whatever attacks Team Rocket might launch at them in the future. And the Elite Four are actually joining us in the search." He locks his arms in front of him, opening his eyes a bit, then cracks his knuckles. "Which makes the whole operation a bit more complicated than it should, but definitely more time-efficient."

"Too many cooks spoil the broth," Kyungsoo whispers.

Minseok holds out a hand in his direction, and Kyungsoo meets him halfway when he slaps his hand against Minseok's own. "They tend to get very particular with details, as well. It's all for the best, though. We don't want to miss out any small details that might actually be essential to the opera–"

Something buzzes against Kyungsoo's wrist. He drops his gaze to his PokeGear, then, and presses 'call' button in the corner when he sees Soojung's name pop up on the screen. "Soojung's calling from Gangeung-si. Hook me up to the TV."

It takes a while for the image on the display to become crisp. One minute, there's nothing but a thick sheet of darkness; the next minute, they're seeing bright lights, a brief flash, then the lights dimming. An image of Soojung's face, cropped close enough that Kyungsoo can make out how wide her eyes opened and the path the sliver of sweat takes as it trickles down the side of her nose. "Camp number two. It's bigger than the first," Soojung begins, whispering into the receiver of the gear. The display shakes up a little, but soon reveals an expanse of space – two large fields, empty save for two pillars about a good twenty feet from each other, a gem peeking from the peak of each pillar. The gem glimmers in the dark, just a faint sparkle that soon goes out as the light dims even more. "I'm not sure if the stones in the middle are key stones or the evolution stones but–"

"A huge key stone?" Minseok bolts up from his seat and sits upright. "But there should be just one source and that's the one in–"

" _I know,_ " Soojung half mumbles, half grumbles. She looks up from where she'd looked at the camera for a moment, then presses the Gear close to her chest. Kyungsoo can hear it, the rustling of her clothes, the pounding in her chest, the dry, panicked heaves as she mutters, "From what I heard, they stole some from the main stone in Jeju and they're trying too– Whoa, what the f– They're trying to reproduce it so they can have enough key stones to summon one of the great legendary Pokemon that can evolve _even without a mega evolution stone–_ "

The sound thins into silence. Kyungsoo listens hard for some crackling, for the sound of light or the blowing winds to prick the silence and break it completely, but to no avail. The silence remains, accompanied by Soojung's name flashing in big, bold letters on the display of his PokeGear. He shifts his gaze from the display to the rest of the team, then, to Minseok whose eyes are wide open, to Sunyoung who is worrying her bottom lip and rubbing her thumb along the side of her own Gear in an attempt to keep herself from trying to contact Soojung. To Baekhyun whose lips are parted, whose chest is heaving in tiny, quick breaths. To Baekhyun who's turning to look at him and ask, "That's... it? She's gone just like that?"

Static in the background, then the call ends once and for all. Kyungsoo disconnects his Gear from the display and says, "We should check the news–"

"No, the news won't have anything on that," Minseok mutters. One side of his cheek hollows out as he bites it from the inside. He pushes himself off his seat. "Stay here. Or rest. Or talk to your Pokemon, _whatever._ If I see anyone getting out of this Center–"

Sunyoung shakes her head. She shuts her eyes tight, eyebrows furrowing, then slams her balled fists on her thigh. "We _have_ to help her–"

"We don't even know what happened; we shouldn't be jumping into conlu–" Minseok's PokeGear gives off a shrill ring, and he holds up a hand in Sunyoung's direction before saying, " _Nobody's_ leaving this Pokemon Center. Grab a glass of water. _Rest._ We start the operation at five in the morning– I'm here, Boa. I can hear you–"

Minseok's voice thins into white noise as he slips from the room. Sunyoung stomps her foot but only just, doesn't even stand from her seat or unfurl the tight curl of her fingers. Instead, she moves closer to where Baekhyun is, resting her head on Baekhyun's shoulder as she mutters, "I don't want to witness another war. We're supposed to be _done with this._ We're not supposed to be watching people die–"

"She's not dead," Kyungsoo whispers.

"The line _fucking went out._ She was in Team Rocket's camp–" Sunyoung scoffs, shakes her head, laughs like her throat's so scratched up from her pushing down her throat all the words madly knocking at the back of her teeth for a clumsy enunciation. "What do you want me to think? That she just tripped or something? Her Gear's battery got drained? That's stupid–"

"Have faith," Baekhyun mutters. He tilts his head and snakes an arm around Sunyoung's shoulder, and guides her head to a more comfortable fit in the press of their bodies. Then he presses a soft kiss to Sunyoung’s forehead, pressing his cheek against it soon after, humming a tune as if it will make Sunyoung calm down. And maybe it will – the shaking of Sunyoung’s hands has already stilled a bit and her lips aren’t trembling anymore. "As long as we don't have word on– on what really happened to her–" Baekhyun shuts his eyes for a moment, biting the inside of his cheek as he does so. "Just– Just have faith."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. His stomach tosses, turns, _lurches_. He feels like throwing up. He feels like breaking out of the room, Minseok's orders be damned. They have a friend in danger; only a fool would not want to save his friend from whatever perils she’s trapped in. But– "If we go out to rescue her, we'll just put ourselves in trouble. And we need to–" He shakes his head. "The League, the people – they all need us to be able to _reach_ the legendaries in the best way we know how."

Baekhyun snorts. "By what? By getting into trouble?"

Kyungsoo reaches over with his leg, kicking Baekhyun's calf hard enough to earn a scowl. "By not falling for Team Rocket's trap," he says, voice cracking somewhere in the middle. He clears his throat. He can taste a sick mix of acid and blood in his mouth. It's sickening. But it's one of those things that makes you feel alive, one of those things that reminds you that _yes,_ everything I've been doing so far? Smart moves, all of them. They’re the reason why I’m still here, standing. "So we stick to the plan. We stay here. We go to bed in five minutes and hope that Soojung will be found by the members of the League or that she'd at least be out of harm's way."

Baekhyun chuckles. Reaches out with one hand, as well, and tugs on the hem of Kyungsoo's shirt with tiny jerks of his hand until Kyungsoo gets the message. "Can't believe I'm hearing this from you."

I can't believe I'm doing this, either, says a voice at the very back of Kyungsoo's mind when he lets Baekhyun pull him into the messy hug, when he links his fingers with Sunyoung's own as Sunyoung reaches for him to seal their tiny circle of three. I can't believe it, he muses when he lets Baekhyun snake a hand across his shoulder so Baekhyun can coax him to move closer, bury his face in the crook of Baekhyun's neck, press his lips to Baekhyun's hot and sticky skin.

When he lets Baekhyun sneak a sly hand further up his thigh and light a fire inside of him, enough to make his stomach twist and turn, make his knees go weak. Enough to make the voices, all sounding _exactly_ like him, he'd once silenced to come screaming at him, all of them telling him just one thing: there's no backing out now.

→

Kyungsoo wakes up to the sound of Sunyoung's fitful snores. It's a bit comforting, knowing that Sunyoung's in a deep enough sleep for her to be unmindful of the sounds she's making. She'd had trouble resting last night, curling up beside Kyungsoo where they'd unrolled a cushion and just staring at the narrow space between them as she waited for sleep to come to her. It went on for thirty minutes, forty, _fifty,_ then an hour, with Baekhyun declaring that he was turning off the lights, to hell with Sunyoung's fear of the dark. He was sleepy and he couldn't be assed to stay up just because Sunyoung was overextending herself, fretting about something that she shouldn't be worrying about.

Kyungso recalls Baekhyun's shoulders giving a tiny jerk, though, recalls the slight tremble of his lips and the way he'd looked at Sunyoung like the only thing he wanted to do that moment was to hold her close until she fell asleep. But Sunyoung wouldn't want that. She's never wanted to be perceived as weak or someone who needs to be taken care of. An strong woman capable of anything and everything – that's who she wants to be seen as, and that's who she is. So Baekhyun didn't do anything. Simply curled up on Kyungsoo's other side and turned his back against her.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, shifting his gaze to the left where Baekhyun's elbow is digging into his side. Baekhyun's low snores blend well with Sunyoung's high, hiccuped ones. It almost sounds as if they're singing. They used to do that a lot, back in Sinyuk-ri when they were still eight or nine. He chuckles at the thought, at both the memory of the past and how that habit has made its way to their present, tying them back to their tiny village in an island miles away from the big city. Some things don't change.

More like, some things have to change but just won't. Circumstance makes things stubborn, grooms them to be painfully difficult. _Uncompromising._ Kyungsoo shakes his head and heaves a sigh as he pushes himself up. It's almost six in the morning; they should be preparing for their gym challenge because Minseok had insisted–

"Too early," Baekhyun grumbles from beside him. Kyungsoo blinks a few times, refocuses his vision, tries to inch away. It's half past five in the morning and it's _too fucking early_ to be battling it out with the better side of his brain, too early to be reminding himself of badges and goals and missions and saving lives, but it has to be done. Even more so when Baekhyun finally finds his hand from where Baekhyun has been feeling around for _something_ on the narrow space between them, fingers curling around Kyunsgoo's wrist at the first brush of the tips of his fingers against the side of Kyungsoo's hand. "It's 5 a.m.."

"5:30," Kyungsoo retorts. He gives his hand a light yank, trying to free himself from Baekhyun's tight grip, but Baekhyun only tightens his hold. "Baekhyun, the gym opens at 9 a.m. and we need to be back in the city by then–"

"And you need to shut up because it's _five-fucking-a.m.._ "

"And you need to–" Kyungsoo shakes his hand but Baekhyun holds on, tighter than before that Kyungsoo can feel Baekhyun's steady pulse in the fit of their bodies. The pads of his fingers are cold against Kyungsoo's own. Or maybe it's the other way around. Baekhyun has this insane ability of screwing up Kyungsoo's system without any hope for survival. It's a lose-lose situation, _always._ "We still have to travel–"

"Five minutes."

Kyungsoo leans back a little, gaze flitting to where Baekhyun has one eye poked open. "What?"

"Five minutes," Baekhyun murmurs, a bit more clearly this time when he pulls Kyungsoo down and drapes his limbs all other the latter. He buries his face in the crook of Kyungsoo's neck as he whispers, hot breath tickling Kyungsoo, "Five more minutes."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath. Shuts his eyes, too, as he recalls how he even ended up lying beside these two, with Baekhyun pressed so close to his side. The two had insisted last night for Kyungsoo to stay in the middle because, "Baekhyunnie's the worst person to share a bed with," Kyungsoo recalls Sunyoung grumbling. "Even worse than my Pokemon, and that says a lot." It was the first time she'd spoken up, the first time she'd even looked over her shoulder to meet Kyungsoo's gaze after the news broke out. So it made sense for Baekhyun to not retort, to not throw his own brand of a snide remark in Sunyoung's direction. Instead, he stuck up his middle finger and pulled Kyungsoo closer to his side seconds after the same way he has his arms wraps around Kyungsoo now, his steady breathing spilling over to Kyungsoo's skin.

Kyungsoo tried to break free from Baekhyun's grasp at first, tried to find a more comfortable fit because he didn't want either Baekhyun or Sunyoung to wake up with sore limbs, but soon Baekhyun was bring him even closer, tightening his hold on Kyungsoo. In an attempt to win over his loyalty or to shield him from the punch to the arm Sunyoung aims in his direction, he couldn't tell. All he knew that time was that the thumping in Baekhyun's chest was heavy, strong, _loud,_ enough for it to seep through Kyungsoo's skin that he felt his heart race against his rib cage soon after.

"See? He's even a bolster hogger. C'mon, Baek–" Sunyoung slapped Baekhyun on the arm, jabbed him, murmured a faint apology when she ended up hitting Kyungsoo in the cheek, instead. She was smiling a bit then, the first smile Kyungsoo had seen her wear in hours. So he didn't groan in pain, simply choked down the sound threatening to spill from his lips and pushed it until it fell to the pit of his stomach. Just took one blow after another, sponged by the soft cocoon of Baekhyun's arms around him, their chests pressed against each other, Kyungsoo's lips just hovering Baekhyun's hot and sticky skin.

"Just five minutes, okay," Kyungsoo mumbles. He tilts his head to his side, looking up for the briefest of moments to meet Baekhyun's still sleep-laden gaze. "We need to–"

"We have leftovers. From last night." Baekhyun yawns. Buries his face in Kyungsoo's hair and inhales sharply, as well, before letting out a soft giggle. Kyungsoo twists his fist in Baekhyun's shirt in response. " _What,_ I was just saying–"

"That's disgusting," Kyungsoo groans.

"Your hair smells nice," Baekhyun murmurs, lips pressed to Baekhyun's scalp as he does so. He giggles and for a moment Kyungsoo contemplates doing two things – tilting his head up to hit Baekhyun in the chin, or grinding his knuckles against Baekhyun's skin through his shirt to try to get even. But Baekhyun has gotten way ahead in this game already, has already secured his victory the moment Kyungsoo let Baekhyun pull him into the warmth of his embrace. Baekhyun's last fuck you was laughing against Kyungsoo's skin. "You still use strawberry shampoo? At the height of the war?"

Kyungsoo's stomach turns. He shuts his eyes tight, tries to still the lurching inside him, the slow-simmering heat that's beginning to crawl to his groin and then further south to the tips of his toes. You're not supposed to remember, he wants to say. You're not supposed to recall all these little things because it's been _ten long years_ and we are fighting a war–

"Shut up," Kyungsoo whispers in lieu of a proper response. His fingers tremble a little against Baekhyun's stomach when Baekhyun hums into the tuft of his hair. He kicks Baekhyun in the leg for good measure. Or just to get even at Baekhyun, maybe; logic escapes him at five in the morning. Logic has never been on his side at such an early hour. " _Shut up._ "

Five minutes stretch into six, seven, eight, until Kyungsoo feels himself drifting back to sleep only to be pulled back into consciousness by the sound of Sunyoung's snores fading into white noise. Baekhyun still has one palm secure on the small of Kyungsoo's back and the fingers of his other hand tangled in Kyungsoo's hair, but Kyungsoo tries to wiggle free from Baekhyun's embrace, nonetheless. " _Five minutes,_ " he says through gritted teeth, drawls his syllables this time as if it makes a difference. As if the syllables stretched thin will save him from falling deeper into sleep and back into Baekhyun's arms. It's sounds to stupid, even in his head. "You promised, Baekhyun, just five minutes–"

"I'm really bad at keeping promises, I guess," Baekhyun whispers in Kyungsoo's ear. Kyungsoo shivers, shakes all over, a tiny whimper spilling from his lips when he feels Baekhyun's rough lips pressed against his skin. If Baekhyun was trying to pull him back into slumber then he's doing a shitty job at it. Baekhyun only succeeds in kicking Kyungsoo's senses into overdrive, making him hyperaware of everything that's happening – the racing in his chest, the voices at the back of his mind silenced by the thrumming of his pulse. The fact that he's leaning into Baekhyun's touch and closing his eyes and wondering, just wondering, what could have been if he'd given up and into Baekhyun sooner. “ _Five more minutes–_ "

 _No,_ he tells himself. A gasp when Baekhyun lets out hot and prickling breathing against his skin, then, "You are. So just–" Kyungsoo shakes his head, then splays his fingers on Baekhyun's chest but doesn't quite push him away. "We _need_ to get back to town by eight."

Baekhyun lets out a loud exhale. From where Kyungsoo is, he can make out the light quiver of Baekhyun's lips, the way the corners pull down then tug up faster than he can blink. "Right. I'll just–" He pulls away, stutters in his motion just before he rolls over to the other side. "I'll take a shower. Or walk around. I dunno. If you need me in the kitchen, just let me–"

"No," Kyungsoo replies. His stomach turns again, something sharp grinding against the walls. The shooting pain numbs his knees a little, making him wince. Nothing a good breakfast can't fix, he tells himself. This is just hunger at work. "I'll take care of it. I'm good."

Baekhyun looks over his shoulder for a second, then laughs. "Yeah. Of course," he mumbles, then pushes himself off the bed. It feels so... cold all of a sudden. Sort of like Kyungsoo has made the stupid decision to head out of the Center in a threadbare shirt at the cusp of summer and autumn, knowing well that his tolerance for the cold weather is shitty at best. "You don't need help. You never do,” Baekhyun continues after a while, voice cracking somewhere in between. He resurfaces with a smile, though, just a gentle upward tug at the corners of his mouth, when he looks over his shoulder. “Always the capable one. But _eh,_ you’ll know where to find me if you need me."

Liar, Kyungsoo wants to say. He bites the inside of his cheek, instead, and slips from the sheets to get back on his feet. "Yeah. I'll... definitely let you know."

Good news comes in the form of Minseok sipping coffee in the meeting area at the back of the Pokemon Center. The crease on his forehead has eased considerably, Kyungsoo notes as he moves closer and gives Minseok a curt nod as a greeting. Minseok looks up at him, then, the base of his glasses making the dark circles under his eyes lighter. Or maybe he's just gotten some sleep, a bit of rest despite the bad news they'd received last night. The most sleep Kyungsoo has gotten since the start of the war was five hours; the least, a solid thirty minutes.

 _The war._ Kyungsoo laughs to himself. Nobody in the team calls it as such, but it might as well be a widely-accepted fact that they _are_ in the middle of a great war right now. A silent one that you won't see coming. The type that creeps up on you, breathes poison into your system, knocks on the back of your knees without preamble and kicks you hard in the shins when you fall to the ground. Kyungsoo much prefers explosions over this; it's easier to predict the opponent's next move that way, knowing exactly where the ruckus has originated by craning his neck and looking for smoke or at least the most subtle singe of fire. Or by listening hard to determine the direction the sound is coming from. Right now, they're feeling around for land mines, searching for clues. Mindlessly treading the path of danger in an attempt to hunt it and shut it down at the first opportunity.

"Well, you're up early," Minseok says, then addresses him with a smile. Kyungsoo takes this as his cue to come closer, then, invade Minseok's private time and make a space for himself on the dining table where Minseok's reviewing a handful of papers. "Should've told you that I'm pushing back the reopening of the gym for two more hours. Some of the residents are still trying to settle back into their homes. They should be done in thirty minutes to an hour but I wanted to make certain preparations before I started taking in challenges again."

"It's fine. I... couldn't sleep properly, anyway," Kyungsoo replies. He locks his arms behind himself, stretching, then does the opposite to feel the burn in the sides of his arms. "More time to train and figure out a nice strategy to take down your ice-types."

"You shouldn't have told me that. Now I'll be playing either extra aggressively or carefully against you," Minseok teases.

Kyungsoo lets out a low huff. Shakes his head a little, as well, because words always seem to escape him at such an early hour. He has to learn to recalibrate, reinvent himself. He can't stick to the same schedule knowing that they have to be up and alert whenever the situation calls for it. He can't give his brain the leisure of taking thirty whole minutes to boot, or for the rest of his body to catch up only ten minutes after. He needs to learn to kickstart his system in a blink of an eye, needs to be able to retort with a quick remark even before the punchline hits him in the face. So he tries his best, mutters, "And _you_ shouldn't have said that either, hyung."

"You learn fast," Minseok replies, breathing out in a low hum and brushing his knuckles against Kyungsoo's cheek in a playful punch. "You _are_ your brother's sibling."

"Of course."

"Is it a Do family thing, the snark?"

"Maybe?" Kyungsoo answers. He scratches his nape, yawns, but stifles it as soon as he can with the tight press of the back of his palm to his mouth. Minseok chuckles, then, doesn't prod any further, and leans back in his seat even as Kyungsoo asks, "Any news on Soojung?"

"Ah, of course." Minseok sits upright, straightening the front of his shirt and drawing his mug close to his lips for a sip of his coffee. His voice is steady, unwavering, void of the little cracks it once had hours ago, when they'd just learned about Soojung getting caught in a web of disaster. It's a bit comforting, Kyungsoo muses as he feels a familiar sizzle of heat crawl up his abdomen, but at the same time it's disconcerting. For all he knows, Minseok might just be bluffing and trying to convince him that everything's alright. Maybe Minseok is just schooling his features because isn't that how a good leader is supposed to act? Stay calm and controlled in the face of danger? Kyungsoo doesn't let his guard down yet, then, blinks a few times until his vision comes into full focus.

"We found her last night. More like _she came to us_ last night, actually. Or early in the morning. Somewhere in between." Minseok shuts his eyes as he takes a deep breath, then clears his throat a little. "She's in the infirmary, at the far back. It's a separate room from the other patients," Minseok continues. He stands from his seat and sneaks one last sip of coffee before straightening his legs. The sound of bones cracking reaches Kyungsoo's ears, crawls down his spine and makes him shiver. "The Swords found her in the Rocket camp and brought her here. I'm guessing they sensed that she wasn't like Team Rocket who wanted to hurt Pokemon so they helped her get here. They're pretty intuitive."

"The Swords?" comes a familiar voice from behind. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder, meeting Baekhyun's gaze. Baekhyun's eyes are wide open; his eyebrows, lifted just a little. His eyelids still droop from time to time and the pull on his cheeks makes him look more asleep that anything else. It sort of makes Kyungsoo want to just push Baekhyun to the closest couch so Baekhyun can sleep again, or maybe guide Baekhyun to the cushions for a much more comfortable fall. "As in Cobalion's... brothers or something? Terakkion, Virizion and... Who's that other one?"

"Keldeo," Kyungsoo breathes out. Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows at him as if saying, if you want to say something then _say it clearly._ Stop mumbling. _Speak up._ So he clears his throat, tries to ease the tightness inside by swallowing hard around the lump growing bigger by the minute. "Keldeo, the youngest of the four... musketeers. Or at least that's what the article I read last night said."

"The one about the fire that separated it from its parents?" Minseok asks. The corners of his lips are pulled up in a small smile, one that looks tight from where Kyungsoo is but doesn't quite leave Minseok's cheeks tense. If anything, it lifts the last dregs of lethargy from Minseok's features and brightens Minseok's eyes. It's almost as if Kyungsoo had triggered something in those two short sentences he'd dropped out of nowhere. "I see you've read the article I made."

" _Whoa._ You–" Baekhyun rushes in Minesok's direction, squinting at him and looking at him from head to toe. If your goal is to see things more clearly then you're doing it wrong, Kyungsoo's tempted to say, but he knows better than to let impulse get the better of him. Instead, he tilts his head a little, parting his lips in question. "So you're a gym-leader-slash-hiker-or-something-slash-writer? What else don't we know about you? That you're some... secret agent who used to work with Professor Kwon or something?"

Minseok cocks an eyebrow in response, faster than laughter can spill from his lips. He hiccups, coughs, hits his chest in succession as he tries to cough out whatever it is that has lodged itself in the middle of his throat. There's something more to this, in the way Minseok shakes his head and laughs and sort of widens his eyes like he can't believe what's happening, but maybe Kyungsoo's just imagining things. It's too early in the morning and he hasn't even had his coffee yet; he doesn't trust himself to make sound decisions without the guidance of coffee or at least taking a quick bite for breakfast.

"I guess I'll have to kill you now since you already know about my deepest, darkest secret," Minseok singsongs. He reaches for his mug for a last time, drinking up the contents in a big gulp and tilting it all the way. ne He finishes with a low hum, a small smile, a smidgen of coffee flaunted on a corner of his mouth. A sharp gaze that cuts right through Kyungsoo. Minseok isn't even looking at him. The whole ensemble makes Minseok look more sinister than playful, more like he _is_ hiding something else other than his previous stint as a writer for the Plateau Publications than just joking around with Baekhyun. More like this whole thing with infiltrating the Rocket camps and reuniting with the Lake Trio _is_ , indeed, a trap and that Team Rocket has been right about the League having selfish intentions all this time.

Kyungsoo shakes his head, tells himself, get your act together. If the League wanted to conquer the world for a while already then they would have done so a long time ago. He's seen what the League and its members are capable of, has seen them in action during the previous war where Kyungsoo almost emerged as the only survivor in the Do family. They saved him and his brother, helped them rebuild their family of two. And Seungsoo has had nothing but praise for the organization ever since.

He kicks the ground, laughs to himself. Laughs _at_ himself. This is exactly what Team Rocket wants to happen, and he's falling for the trap without even putting up a fight.

"Anyway, your friend, Soojung, is doing alright," Minseok announces. He stretches his arms overhead, then adds, "But she won't be able to move for the next three days because the wounds she sustained were really bad, so she'll be staying here until she heals up completely. And since Team Rocket has just moved to a new camp _somewhere–_ " Minseok drums his fingers on the table and lets out a soft yawn. "We won't be infiltrating the camps for the time being. Or if we will, we'll have to do it in broad daylight. Sunlight scares the grunts away."

"No investigations?" Kyungsoo asks.

"Professor Kwon's team is there right now. I mean her team has been split into two, and if she ever needs your help then she _will_ call you. That's the only favor I have to ask: be ready to battle at any given time. This– This isn't something we can prepare for anymore." Minseok takes a deep breath and presses his lips together before licking them apart. "The Rockets _will_ strike when we least expect it. It will be easier to predict the genies attacking trainers, I'm assuming."

"And even easier to tame the genies now that we have the musketeers on our side," Kyungsoo adds. Minseok nods, slow and deliberate. The smile on his lips hasn't waned. It makes the lurching in Kyungsoo's stomach still, makes him feel a bit more at ease knowing that it will be easier for them to communicate with the legendary genies. Pokemon communicate with their fellow Pokemon more effectively, after all, and if they've already gained the trust of the legendary Swords then they might as well be one step closer to telling coaxing the genies to take their side and help them out. "Though we need to... I guess we need to spend more time with the Swords. Or at least make them feel like _they_ have tamed us."

"You're good at that."

Kyungsoo lifts an eyebrow at no one in particular, but it's Minsek who reacts with a soft chuckle. "I mean, you're good at making legendary Pokemon feel like approaching you for a quick chat. There's something about you, kid – I just can't pinpoint what it is."

Kyungsoo holds his breath, waiting for Minseok's succeeding words. He's heard this line at least a hundred times already, and in all those instances he's always been compared with his brother. _Seungsoo has always been good with Pokemon. The Pokemon just feel... safe with him, you know what I mean? Is that something that you can pass on to your baby brother? To tiny Do?_ He cracks his neck. He's long outgrown the name but it still gets to him sometimes. He's Do Kyungsoo, a trainer who specializes in waiting things out and waiting for the right time to strike. He isn't 'the other Do', and neither is he 'Seungsoo's little brother'. He's certain Seungsoo wouldn't appreciate his brother being called as such because Seungsoo has raised him to be more than just a shadow of someone else, but part of him feels like this is true – that he's taken a part of Seungsoo and buried it deep inside himself that if ever the war took Seungsoo away from him, that if he ever lost _everyone_ he held close to his heart, he would still have a part of his brother tucked in his heart.

"He looks dead half the time," Baekhyun mumbles. "I guess it makes Pokemon feel... safe around him."

Kyungsoo looks up, meeting Baekhyun's heavy gaze. Baekhyun eyes are focused but not discerning. It's not the same gaze Baekhyun gives him when Baekhyun means to search every inch of Kyungsoo's skin for clues, not the same look Baekhyun wears when he's studying Kyungsoo or just plain staring, hoping to elicit something from Kyungsoo. This one is... expectant. Sort of like Baekhyun's telling him, I saved your sorry ass again but keep getting nothing in return. It's not fair, Soo. When will I _ever_ catch a break with you?

"Well, he _does_ have that sort of aura," Minseok says, voice dropping to a whisper. He gives Kyungsoo a once over. Kyungsoo's knees give a tiny shake in response. "And it's not the blank look. It's more of–" Minseok takes in a sharp breath, shoulders lifting in a nice, steady motion then plummeting all at once when he exhales. "If I were a Pokemon seeing you for the first time, I'd know for sure that you aren't entirely harmless but you're not harmful either. Does that make sense?"

"A neutral ground?" Baekhyun offers.

Minseok shrugs. Nods twice, _thrice,_ and chuckles towards the end. "Like you're ready to hear a Pokemon out and help it if needed. And that you can feel their needs and plan your strategy according to that."

Kyungsoo leans back, lifting his eyebrows as he takes in Minseok's words. But _of course,_ he wants to say – he _has_ been training alongside a psychic-type for years, after all. Back when Gardevoir was still a Ralts, it was hypersensitive to gestures, motions, _and_ emotions. The bond Kyungsoo had forged with Ralts on the onset? That was luck at work. If they met under different circumstances, if Kyungsoo hadn't shielded Ralts with his body that fateful day, then it would have taken Ralts longer to warm up to the concept of having a trainer to bring out the best in it.

"Well, I guess–" Kyungsoo massages his nape. There's a knot of tension there that shoots a shiver up his neck when he presses down hard on a muscle with his thumb, the same brand of tension that settles on his shoulders whenever he's put on the spotlight. Whenever Sunyoung's looking at him with eyes that can see through all of his walls. Whenever Baekhyun looks at him, just looks at him, with nothing but a promise of a good chase in the twinkle of his eyes. "The training with Gardevoir's paying off. And hyung used to have a Mr. Mime so that might also be a factor."

"Ah, of course. _Seungsoo,_ " Minseok echoes. He nods after a while then drops his gaze to his cup of coffee, frowning when he finds it empty. "Anyway, now that your friend's safe and sound, I assume you'd be more comfortable tackling the gym challenge back in Chuncheon-si? The gym opens at eleven but the matches should be quick." Minseok wiggles his eyebrows. "Most of my opponents tend to... freeze and choke up just ten minutes into a match."

Baekhyun snorts. He doesn't stop walking, though, continues his journey from the doorstep to where Kyungsoo is and rests his hand on Kyungsoo's shoulder. Kyungsoo meets his gaze, then, calculating, asking, so _what in the world_ are you up to again? But before he can even finish, Baekhyun snakes his hand up Kyungsoo's nape, massages that sore spot that Kyungsoo was running his thumb along earlier.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Tries to not let his shoulders rise or his chest puff out for fear of Baekhyun figuring him out. If Baekhyun ever realized how much power he had over Kyungsoo, if he ever found a way to maneuver himself into that tiny, unoccupied vessel in Kyungsoo's heart, well, then, game over.

"I'll make sure I'll be the first trainer to... thaw you out," Baekhyun retorts. A grin stretches across his lips, tears at the corners of his mouth and pulls them up until the smile reaches his eyes. Then he's grimacing when Minseok raises his fist as if meaning to punch the living daylights out of him. "I mean I'll do my best to earn the Icicle Badge, leader."

"Too cold," Minseok grumbles. "Stick to 'hyung'. Call me 'leader' when you step inside my gym."

Baekhyun shakes his head and laughs, bright and hearty and loud. _This_ thaws Kyungsoo out a bit, helps him shake off the initial uncertainty and uneasiness that settled at the pit of his stomach earlier. So he takes that in, inhales the sound of Baekhyun's obnoxious, noisy laughter, and bottles it all inside him for when he feels a surge of cold slip between his toes and reach up his knees, making him shake and shiver all over. He keeps a piece of Baekhyun for the rainy days, hoping to make the rain pour harder, calling upon a storm, the only sound that can rival the wild thumping in his chest.

→

Kyungsoo begs off from watching Baekhyun's gym challenge against Minseok. He has every reason to do so: he's still trying to figure out his strategy, the perfect way to take down Minseok's ice-type Pokemon. He hasn't battled outside of trying to save himself and his friends in a long time. He's still trying to get used to this whole 'mega evolution shazam' that he'd used against the Snorlax that tried to attack the residents of Chuncheon-si a few days ago. Gardevoir's trying its best, trying to make the bonding and honing process easier for Kyungsoo, but he still runs into a few roadblocks. He's used to the power Gardevoir has inside itself in its normal form, knows exactly how much damage it will deal to Pokemon for every kind of attack that it knows. So this surge of power, Gardevoir’s new form and ability, the untapped potential it has – Kyungsoo’s new to all these things. It scares him.

The last thing he wants is for Gardevoir to get lost in its own power, to be consumed from the inside by whatever magic it is behind the whole mega evolution process. One wrong move and he might lose his Pokemon to something as silly as the thirst to win. One wrong move and he might kill himself and the people around him in an attempt to get ahead.

Three knocks on the wood and Kyungsoo looks to his side. He doesn't look over his shoulder yet, though, doesn't strain his neck and waits for the newcomer to come closer. He pulls his arms close to his body. Fighting stance, he remembers calling this one during one of his training sessions with Sableye. It's the same stance that Seungsoo had taught him before, when he was four and still got into a habit of being bullied by other kids in the village who thought he knew nothing but spew Pokemon knowledge at random. He can hear Gardevoir stuttering in its steps, can hear the faint hum Gardevoir makes. This isn't Gardevoir asking him a question or trying to confirm anything. This is his Pokemon trying to tell him–

"Super busy?" comes Sunyoung's voice. Kyungsoo lets out a low exhale. He looks up at Gardevoir for a second, then shifts his gaze to the person at the doorstep. Sunyoung's leaning against the wall, her side pressed to the surface and her shoulders hunched. Her hair is tied up in a bun, messy in the corners, but it frames her face just right. Even in her most disheveled look, she's beautiful, Kyungsoo muses. Even with a hint of fatigue in her features in the way she slumps and the way her eyes droop, she looks breathtaking. It's the confidence she wears in the stretch of her body, in the way she tilts her chin up – it's these things that keep her from losing her light, her glow. Besides, for the most part, she just looks like she's still reeling in the effects of a sumptuous meal. Kyungsoo laughs to himself – years after and it's still difficult to dissociate Sunyoung's drowsiness from just being plain tired.

"It won't take too long, I promise. I'll be quick," she assures him after a while. She reaches over, making grabby hands at him, and he takes a step back as if to tease. She holds up a hand, fingers poised to stick her middle finger up, but she doesn't push through with it. Instead, she sticks out her tongue, makes weird, strangled sounds when Kyungsoo begins to chuckle. "C'mon, let's make this quick. I'm not here for a drama fest."

"Yeah, just a lecture," Kyungsoo says, snorting. He widens his eyes, caught off-guard by his own words, but he doesn't take them back. Doesn't even cover his mouth with the back of his palm or wave his hands in an effort to dismiss his own mistake. Instead, he pins Sunyoung in place with a gaze and adds, "Well, Gardevoir needs a break, anyway. What's up?"

Sunyoung snorts. "Funny you should ask," she mumbles. She pushes herself away from the wall, then, settling back on both feet and steadying herself. Her knees shake a little and Kyungsoo contemplates reaching out, but _no._ Sunyoung wouldn't like that. She'd hate Kyungsoo developing a knee-jerk reaction to her smallest windows of weakness. "What's up with _you,_ big shot? You look completely different from the kid I used to know."

"I haven't changed a bit," Kyungsoo argues. He locks his arms behind his back, stretching, and winces when he feels the burn in his muscles. This is it, he thinks, proof of overextending himself. The last time it happened was when he tried to swim too far from shore in an attempt to move to another island. Or maybe he did it out of foolishness, out of the sheer desire to try something new because everyone was moving on and he was still stuck in Sinyuk-ri. He was stuck in his little village, in an island miles away from Mokpo-si, a place too far from wherever Baekhyun and Sunyoung had built a new home for themselves.

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Sungyoung begins. She reaches out, wrapping her fingers around Kyungsoo's wrist, then pulls him to the closest bench she finds. "You grew a couple of inches. You're much tinier than you were when I left."

"It's been years, Sunyoung."

"Exactly. It's been years. Anything could have happened. I don't expect you to... I dunno, stay exactly the same or something. That'd be a bit weird." She huffs and motions for Kyungsoo to come closer, to cross the distance between them with a slide to his side. And Kyungsoo hasn't had the best experience with logs, still recalls getting that nasty splinter in his palm, but the one they're sitting on is a bit smoother than the one he fell victim to when he had an evening chat with Soojung. It was _one of those talks._ And it's a bit rougher than the log he'd settled on with Baekhyun far too many times, while they watched their Pokemon hone their techniques and battle it out for dibs on breakfast the following day.

He stops short, gulps hard. You're not supposed to remember, he tells himself. It's not supposed to make a difference. And Sunyoung's tightening grip on his wrist isn't supposed to ache this much even with the friction of their skin, hot and sticky in the last dregs of summer's heat.

"Well, in that case–" He snorts. "I finally moved away from Sinyuk-ri? I have a Pokemon now? Those count as new things, right?" He pauses after a while, taking a deep breath, then lets it all out in a faint exhale. "That's about it. Nothing... nothing important's happened to me. Nothing exciting. _Not counting the legendary encounters,_ at least." He drawls the last few syllables even before Sunyoung can turn her head and say something to counter what he'd just stated. "I've been walking from one city to another, catching Pokemon to complete the Dex. Got pulled into a series of weird research programs where I ended up–"

"Running into Baekhyun again," Sunyoung finishes. Kyungsoo's gaze flickers, drifting from where he'd been staring at his feet to Sunyoung's scrutinizing gaze. He shivers a little. "I mean, what are the odds that you'd be starting in the same town, at the same time, even if you were staying in two different places prior to that–"

Kyungsoo scoffs. He gives his wrist a light shake, trying to free himself from Sunyoung's grip, but to no avail. The pads of Sunyoung's fingers dig into Kyungsoo's skin, leaving a dull ache in his skin that keeps him from attempting to escape at the first chance. "I'm guess our brothers had something to do with it."

" _Possibly,_ " Sunyoung says in agreement. She eases her hold on Kyungsoo's wrist, but slides her hand just a few inches south to drum her fingers on Kyungsoo's skin. Kyungsoo's breath doesn't hitch this time. He doesn't flinch. This is years of knowing each other finally kicking in, his body finding a form of relief in the fit of their hands. "Maybe they even conned Professor Kwon into summoning you two at the same time–"

"Wait." Kyungsoo leans back a bit, gandering at the expression on Sunyoung's features. Her gaze is focused; the subtle smile on her lips certain, making her look so sure of what she's saying. "You know about hyung and Baekbeom-hyung being friends with Professor Kwon?"

Sunyoung's eyes widen. "Whoops?" she mutters just low enough for only Kyungsoo to hear, loud enough to ruffle the white noise that has settled all around them. She shuffles her feet, taps a quick beat with them. Kyungsoo almost scoffs – this is Sunyoung trying to rid herself of nervousness and regret. She did this a lot, when they were much younger. Five minutes before she had to talk to Joonmyun or even just before she was about to bump into him _randomly_ along the beach, she'd sing with her feet and hum along when the pressure became too much to handle. Fast forward five minutes after and she'd be wearing her best smile, putting her best foot forward, and the last dregs of uncertainty would slip from the tips of her toes. And Joonmyun wouldn't even have a clue that Sunyoung went through the worst fit of nervousness before she summoned enough courage to talk to him about marine life and fishing and _the really big fish that looks like a giant Magikarp. Cool, huh?_

"–I guess at some point they stopped trying to hide or deny it, but they never confirmed anything, either. I mean, someone in the media snapped a photo of them after the war, helping people out," comes the next series of words from Sunyoung. Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk, reeling him back to this moment, and Sunyoung only throws him a passing glance in acknowledgement. "The dream team, that was what everyone called them. They could've easily been the best trainers in the country that time. Heck, maybe even the whole world."

 _The whole world._ Kyungsooo laughs a little. The 'whole world' probably doesn't include Sinyuk-ri, but the village being in an island so many miles away doesn't help its case. News takes a while to reach them, even if some households have televisions. So maybe the whole world _was_ aware of Seungsoo's stint as one of the best pharmacists in the country and Baekhyun was just too lazy to check the news for his brother's achievements. Or maybe Baekbeom was even better at keeping secrets.

He shakes his head. Mutters to himself, at the back of his mind, _focus, Kyungsoo._ So reels himself back into the moment, chanting in his mind, _the whole world, the whole world, the whole world–_ Each country had its own set of Elite Four members and a champion to rule them all. Korea had a great roster, sure, but the reality was that their country didn't even rank among the top ten most powerful Elite Four in the world. Reaching the Pokemon World Championships has only ever been a dream for most Koreans. The Japanese – they're the ones who have made a name in the worldwide battling scene. The Americans were fast catching up, as well. Perhaps only Park Sejun has a fighting chance in making it to the top cut of the World Championships.

 _But you don't need the title to be the best,_ Kyungsoo recalls his brother telling him. _All you need is a solid team of Pokemon you trust and who trust you just as much, and then you're all set. You are capable of achieving anything you set your eyes on–_

"Ray Rizzo's still the man to beat," Kyungsoo whispers, then leans back against the wall. It makes him shiver, makes his toes curl in when he feels the brush of his skin against the hot surface. This is summer telling him not to get too complacent, to not let his guard down. Anything he touches can and will hurt him in some way; it's just a matter of knowing how to bounce back from the fall.

"And I'll never be able to get a straight answer from you, _ever,_ " Sungyoung mutters. She unwraps her fingers from Kyungsoo's wrist one by one, the rough pads at the tip brushing against Kyungsoo's skin and making him shiver. "I guess some things _do_ never change."

There will always be these scars we can't get rid of, he wants to say. There will always be the memory of the war haunting him, the memory of seeing his island get engulfed by a huge wave hovering him, following him around, wrapping around his neck in a grip so tight and vicious he can't breathe anymore. And there will always be Baekhyun. Baekhyun leaves scars on every part of Kyungsoo that he touches, leaves bits and pieces of himself in the places he goes to – Sinyuk-ri where he was born and raised and met Kyungsoo, up north in the Gangwon area where he spent a good portion of his life before moving south to Mokpo-si and seeing Kyungsoo again, a decade after they were forced to drift apart. And then all the cities, towns, _all the routes_ they've walked down together. Baekhyun's there in all of them, in every pebble on the ground, his bright, bright laughter the sound of the howling wind.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. He sees Baekhyun in everything now, in every place they've journeyed to together: in the busy marketplace of Mokpo-si where they saw each other again for the first time in years, in the sands of the desert near Muan-gun where they took shelter in a small hut, sharing the common goal of keeping their Pokemon safe and sound. In the ferry to the Tokchok Islands, bodies pressed together in the darkness of the night and even in daylight. In the flight back to solid ground, to Pyeongtaek-si where Baekhyun made the stupid, stupid move of holding out his hand in mid-air in a wide leap of faith. In the dark trainer's quarters in Suwon-si where Baekhyun promised to stay long enough to taste the breakfast Sunyoung was set to prepare for them in the morning but took the first trip out of the city to get ahead, to _get away._ More and more, it's becoming difficult to dissociate Baekhyun from the little things, like picking berries in the field at the back of all the Pokemon Centers Kyungsoo has been to or staying out to watch his Pokemon train, like waking up earlier than he normally would not to catch the sunrise but to catch Baekhyun slipping from the covers and eventually out of the room.

Sunyoung nudges him in his side, and that's when he looks up, rouses from his reverie with a tiny jerk of the body. He looks to his side. " _Again,_ Soo, I'm asking you, what exactly has been happening with you? You're too jumpy, too.. I dunno, afraid? _Paranoid?_ I know you've always been the type to be careful with everything he does but _this is different._ ” She pauses, taking a deep breath, but she doesn’t shift her gaze. She doesn’t even blink. Instead, she reaches for the pads of Kyungsoo’s fingers, saying, "I know you, Kyungsoo, and even if we haven't seen each other for years, I can still tell whether you're bullshitting me or telling me the truth."

Kyungsoo peeks at her from the slits of his bangs, then laughs. Sunyoung lifts her hand, then, brushing her knuckles along Kyungsoo's cheek. "What happened with you and Baekhyun? Not the– Not the one that happened _way, way back._ I know that, the abandonment thing," she amends. "It's like everyday you're becoming more and more uncomfortable being with him, or being seen with him. Heck, you didn't even go with him to watch his match. I bet you'd have sat in there if it was me battling the leader. You love observing matches; I won't even be surprised if you have... I dunno, recordings on your Gear of matches you've seen in the routes." She scratches the slope of her neck with a nail, just one, like she's trying to doodle on her skin with only the cleanest, boldest strokes because she just can't get a straight answer from Kyungsoo. "What's happening with the two of you?"

Too many things, Kyungsoo wants to say – they've been pushing and pulling each other in equal amounts, teasing and testing at every single encounter. And Kyungsoo's been trying to rebuild his walls, make them stronger, more difficult for Baekhyun to break down, but it's become almost impossible to do so. Baekhyun has a lot of tricks up his sleeve and he keeps using a different one everytime Kyungsoo tries to toughen himself up, to look away. To tell himself that he doesn't want to feel Baekhyun's warm arms around him, and that the scent of _his own shampoo_ in Baekhyun's hair doesn't calm him down.

But at the same time, nothing _has_ been happening. They keep holding back, keep digging their hands in their pockets like placing them elsewhere will just cause them harm, get them into trouble. And Kyungsoo keeps wondering what would happen if he'd done the opposite, if he'd curled his hands into tiny fists in Baekhyun's shirt and pulled him close for a kiss all those times that Baekhyun leaned in too much and breathed too little. All thought, no action. All rationalization and no realization. So Kyungsoo answers, "Nothing," pauses to crack his neck and drop his gaze to his feet. He can make out the fray on his shoes at the edges, can see the loose threads peek from the edges. From a corner of his eye, he can see the corners of Sunyoung’s lips pull down to a frown. He feels his chest tighten. "I'm not shitting you this time: nothing's happening."

Sunyoung lets out a long exhale and leans back against the wall. "I can't believe you two," she mumbles after a while, then shakes her head before letting her face fall forward. Kyungsoo can't see the look on her face from where he is, and maybe it's for the better. He can't have more of that weird, sinking sensation in his gut anymore. It's enough that Baekhyun makes his insides turn all the fucking time. "You're old enough to know what you want and what you don't now–"

"It's not that simple, Sunyoung," Kyungsoo whispers. He digs his hands in his pockets. Summer hasn't left yet and the heat of the sun spills in a generous heaping on his skin, but the pads of his fingers are stiff, cold. Almost like he's stuck his hand in the water for too long when he was just supposed to be just testing the them, checking if it's safe to take the plunge. "We're in the middle of a war and the last thing we should be doing is–"

"Complicating things," Sunyoung says, interrupting. She takes a deep breath. From where Kyungsoo is, he can hear a tiny gurgle get caught at the back of Sunyoung's throat, can hear the faint mumble spilling from her lips. It sounds a lot like _silly, silly adults, silly best friends, stupid people in love._ Kyungsoo agrees with the first; he can't say if he's sold on the latter. He shifts in his position, then, folding one leg under his weight and looking to his side to see Sunyoung better. He doesn't meet Sunyoung's eyes yet, though, just keeps his gaze steady on her collarbones, the thrumming pulse at the base of her throat. She's always complained about the weird thumping there and how it made her choke. "We have enough complicated shit to deal with, as it is."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. He rubs his fingers along the underside of his nose. "I've never heard you curse this much in a lifetime," he says, voice barely above a whisper.

"And I've never seen you look so lost," Sunyoung replies. She holds out a hand in Kyungsoo's direction, just hovering his thigh, then wiggles her fingers. Kyungsoo slips his fingers between Sunyoung's in thoughtless response. "And trust me, it's not a good look on you."

Kyungsoo snorts. He's long stopped caring about looking good or passable in front of everyone. Then again, before moving to Mokpo-si to start his Pokemon journey, he's had very little interaction outside the things he was _obliged_ to do, even during high school where he was _supposed_ to know everyone in the village already. His routine was – climb up the small mountain to get to his class, stay in school until the afternoon to study, then head to the fish market right after the last bell for his part-time job. Sell dried fish and fried chicken there until Seungsoo arrived from his 9-to-5 work, then take their products to the streets to make sure everything gets sold before midnight. So all of his interactions with people were fleeting, coincidental. He's never had to stay long enough in one place to make friends, forge relationships, find people, build a second home where Baekhyun and Sunyoung left him behind.

"You want to know what I think? My honest opinion?" Sunyoung asks, tilting her head to the side so she can see Kyungsoo better. Do I have a choice, he wants to say, because Sunyoung will never let on. Maybe she can soften the blow a bit, but there's no way she'd deny herself the pleasure of smacking Kyungsoo dead in the face with the truth. So Kyungsoo nods, just a gentle bob of the head, and rubs his thumb along the side of Sunyoung's hand.

"You two like each other. Always have, always will. No doubt about that. I'm just... not sure if it's gotten better or worse. You be the judge," Sunyoung begins. She chuckles, shaking her head, and Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek in response. Curls in his toes, as well, when he feels a strange sensation simmer at the pit of his stomach. She licks her lips, then takes a deep breath before continuing. "It's just that you're afraid to lose yourself to each other that's keeping you from ever admitting _to each other_ that you do. And that's... that's just bullshit, you know? You're _friends,_ the best of friends even. You know each other's weaknesses, know how to get on each other's nerves. You know each other's limits. So why are you so afraid of being vulnerable? It's not as if you're strangers who have no idea how the other functions–"

That's the point, Kyungsoo wants to say – they already know each other too well that if they scour the surface even more, dig even deeper in search for clues and treasures and maybe the key to each other's heart, then Lord knows the kind of mess they'll get themselves into. Lord knows how they can tear each other apart so easily, how they can ruin each other. They're already all tangled up, as it is, limbs caught in a tight lock that they won't be able to escape from without putting up a fight. And Baekhyun loves his freedom. He wants to be able to explore as many things as possible; he doesn't want to be tied to just one thing, doesn't want to drop anchor just yet.

And Kyungsoo likes being able to breathe. He can't do that with Baekhyun around. Baekhyun screws up with his senses so badly, like poison seeping through Kyungsoo's skin and clawing at his insides until he pours everything out onto Baekhyun's lap, heart, mind, and soul. And there _is_ no antidote to Baekhyun. Baekhyun is here to stay.

"We have a _mission,_ Sunyoung," Kyungsoo finally says, breathing out through the space between his lips. He tightens his hold on Sunyoung. He can feel the tension slithering up the back of his hand, can feel Sunyoung's thundering pulse on his skin. "We have people and Pokemon to save. That's far more important than my feelings or his or whatever it is that we have. So I'll work on that for now and save everyone I can. _And then_ I can give time to sort out my feelings."

Sunyoung laughs a little. "You can't just plan feelings, Soo. They happen _spontaneously–_ "

"Well, then, I have to control them," Kyungsoo answers. He takes a deep, shaky breath, then continues, "I'll sort them out after the war. The world needs me more right now. More than I do myself."

Sunyoung laughs. _Laughs,_ like there's something really, truly funny and that she just has to make it known through the trill of her voice, a sharp, shrill tone. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows in response, but for the most part he just stares at Sunyoung, eyes focused and unrelenting. "I'm not telling you to get married or to have babies," Sunyoung says after a while, when the laughter crawling up her throat has already bubbled into soft giggles. "I'm telling you to accept _this,_ this thing that you have, this... mutual understanding or something, whatever you want to call it because you look so darn afraid to call it what it really is. Accept it and acknowledge it. Because the more you try to push it down, the more you try to hide it, the more it will show. You think it isn't obvious, Soo?" She snorts. "You should see how you look at him. It's _disgusting._ "

Not true, he wants to argue. He's seen himself through Baekhyun's eyes, seen the look on his face through the reflection on Baekhyun's irises a number of times already that he can say, without a doubt in his mind, that he doesn't look like some silly teenager in love when he looks at Baekhyun. And he can _feel_ the shift of his muscles whenever Baekhyun looks his way, whenever Baekhyun is touching him in ways that make his throat go dry and his chest feel heavy. His lips would tremble and he'd feel the strong, thundering pulse at the back of his knees, elbows, his ears, but his gaze would remain the same – vacant, yet focused. _There,_ in that moment, but still somehow detached. It's a defense mechanism he's developed through the years for when he meets someone who can move him the way Baekhyun has. It's a knee-jerk reaction to everything Baekhyun does, and everything Baekhyun makes him feel.

He gulps down hard, frowns, scrunches his face at Sunyoung. " _You're_ disgusting. You should hear yourself right now," he whispers after a while, then leans his head on Sunyoung's shoulder.

"And you should listen to yourself," Sunyoung replies. She snakes her hand up, resting it on the slope of Kyungsoo's neck for the briefest of moments then tangling her fingers in Kyungsoo's hair soon after. "Listen to yourself, for once."

"That's–" Stupid, he almost says. His mind is a dark, dark place, and the voices there know nothing but to scream or to whisper. All extremes and nothing in between. And in the past few years that he's been listening too much to the voices in his head, the ones that try to tell him something in hushed tones, he's only ever gotten himself into trouble – let himself be reeled back into that moment a decade ago when Baekhyun took his hand just before he left, pulled him close, and pressed their lips together in a juvenile kiss.

He swallows hard around the lump in his throat and uncurls his fingers. "It's a scary place, my mind," he whispers, instead, and laughs as he shakes his head. "I wouldn't want to stay there for too long."

Sunyoung chuckles, but she hasn't stopped running her fingers through Kyungsoo's hair. Soon, she's massaging his scalp, humming a soft melody under her breath. He can feel his body giving away, being lured into the warmth of Sunyoung's touch, but he can't give in just yet. He has to prepare for his match just before lunch, has to make sure that his team is prepared to face Minseok's Pokemon and is more than ready to earn him a win. He has to make sure that Gardevoir's a hundred percent comfortable with mega evolving again, if the need for it arises, has to make sure that he, himself, is fit to slip back into that state where he and his Gardevoir are one. And he has to be ready to receive the brunt of the force of Baekhyun's hug if he ever emerges from his gym challenge victorious. He has to be ready for that kind of thing. And Baekhyun has always been a mixbag of surprises.

The door leading to the back of the Pokemon Center opens just a few minutes before eleven in the morning. Baekhyun stands there, the corners of his lips pulled up in a violent tug and his eyes crinkles at the corners. Sunlight filters through his eyelashes, casts these tiny slits of light on his cheeks that make him seem like he's glowing. _Shining._ Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then, as Baekhyun flashes the badge in his direction, as Sunyoung's body gives a tiny jerk and as she squeals in delight. And he bites the inside of his cheek in an attempt to keep himself from – from what? Grinning too much, holding back too little? Being too transparent that Baekhyun won't have to study him too hard anymore to be able to know what he's thinking of or planning to do? He isn't sure. All he knows is that the thumping in his chest has picked up pace, the sound booming in his ears and taking root in his body.

"Your time to shine," Baekhyun tells him, the wild, wicked corners of his lips softening into a smile. And Kyungsoo breathes out into the thinning space between them, those three, four inches pulling them apart yet keeping them together in equal parts.

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There was this one activity back in school, Kyungsoo fondly remembers, where they were asked how they would design the gym of their dreams if they ever became a gym leader. "Think... a big dome with high ceilings and having all the resources in the world," he recalls their teacher telling them that time, and then their teacher went on to write a few mandatories for gyms across the region. Standard rules to follow. They had to choose just one Pokemon type, and they had to build the concept of both their team and their gym around that. Plus points to whoever was able link the concept behind the gym with the tourist spots in the city or whatever the town had to offer. It is still, in Kyungsoo's opinion, one of the toughest tests he's ever taken because who the hell in his right mind would tell students to get creative and wild _and then_ set limits like those? It's like giving a kid cotton candy but only having him hold it so you can eat the treat right in front of him. And then offering him the last thread of candy before stuffing it in your mouth and cackling at the look on his face. It's cruel, insane, a bit ridiculous. It's the exact kind of crazy that the Pokemon League is looking for.

"You'll have to navigate through the cracked ice to get to me," Minseok calls out from the far end of the gym. The lighting is good and Kyungsoo's eyesight usually works with him at an early hour, but with distance this distance between them he can't tell if Minseok's just smiling or _sneering_ at him. Can be a mix of both; Minseok isn't as harmless as most people think he is. "You can't step on the same tile twice, though, so you have to be _extra careful–_ "

"Did Baekhyun have to go through this?" Kyungsoo asks, voice cracking when it peaks. Minseok shrugs his shoulders, or at least that's how it looks like. He's laughing now, the sound curling around Kyungsoo's neck like a vise and making him shiver all over. It's not even because of all the ice around him. "Are all leaders as scary as you are, hy–"

" _Leader,_ " Minseok reminds him. He's smirking and he's pulling back his shoulders, chin tilted up as he says, "You're in my gym."

Kyungsoo leans back for a moment and furrows his eyebrows, almost like he's trying to see Minseok better. And maybe he is – he hasn't seen _this_ Minseok in a while, hasn't seen this side of Minseok since they left Chuncheon-si and encountered the Swords on their way to the lakes. Even then, Minseok hadn't shifted from one mode to another this quickly, but maybe that's what the war does to you – softens you up a little, makes your limbs go weak. Makes trying to find a balance between being sympathetic and objective ten times more difficult because everyone's fighting a difficult battle, some more than the others. It makes Kyungsoo's insides turn a little, makes his stomach lurch.

Stop overthinking everything, he hears a voice at the back of his mind say. It sounds a lot like Sunyoung. So he takes a deep breath and swallows hard, asking again, "Are all leaders as scary as you are, _leader_ Minseok?"

Minseok snorts. The sound bounces off the walls of the gym, cuts through the sheets of ice and sends a shiver up Kyungsoo's spine. "You'll have to find that out for yourself, trainer."

Kyungsoo is no stranger to this – the pre-challenge procedure, picking the Pokemon he'll be taking for a best of three battle, trying to read his opponent's battling style just by observing the way he walks, talks, the way he carries himself – but then he's never faced ice-type Pokemon before. Bug, grass, water, flying-types – he's had more than enough experience with those that he knows how to counter them with his Pokemon even when he's suffering type disadvantage. Ice-types, however... They're hard to come by, as it is. And no amount of research can ever prepare him for what he will be facing the moment he gets through this maze of cracked tiles.

"You can't stand on a tile for too long, either," Minseok tells him, then laughs a little. Scary leaders, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. He shivers when he feels the cold crawl up to his ankles and wrap around them. It makes his knees shake. "You have to find a balance between careful planning and trusting your gut feel on the path to take," Minseok continues, voice lilting. "You don't have much time, Kyungsoo. What's it going to be?"

Kyungsoo grumbles. Don't rush me, he wants to say, but he knows better than to talk back to a gym leader, to any authority of the Pokemon league. So instead, he takes a quick scan of the room, tries hard to etch that image in his mind, and asks himself – Hyung said that challenges last for no more than thirty minutes. Standard gym battles last for twenty to twenty-five minutes, at the very least, because deciding on the appropriate Pokemon to use and the move that will help his Pokemon score the highest damage regardless of the way luck rules in one's favor takes _at least_ ten minutes, total. So what's the easiest but safest path to take? What's the quickest way to get there without having to pass through the same square twice? What is the obvious solution that Kyungsoo won't even see coming that he'll just laugh at himself silly when he finds out the key to the code?

He hears the ice in front of him crack, a sharp sound that rings in his ears and makes him wince. He opens his eyes again, then, and shifts his eyes between the tile in front of him and the row of ice that comes before the thicker surface Minseok standing on. "You can't be serious," Kyungsoo whispers to himself, then, and takes a deep breath. It can't be this simple. It's supposed to be a gym _challenge;_ he can't just expect Minseok to lay the answers down in front of him, right?

"You don't have all day, challenger," Minseok calls out from the other side of the room. He's still wearing the same grin, the same confidence in the stretch of his body, in the way he tilts his head up and watches Kyungsoo from feet away. This, at least, is familiar. It stills Kyungsoo's insides a little, warms him up and urges him to take a step forward, then another, and then another until he's taking a zigzagging path on his way to Minseok.

Minseok snorts. It's faint enough a sound that it probably would have gone unnoticed if they weren't the only ones if the gym, if Kyungsoo hasn't had his eyes on Minseok the whole time, from the moment he lifted his feet from the entrance up until he steps on Minseok's side of the gym. And he's shivering all over by the time he lands on solid ground again on two feet, but that doesn't matter anymore – he's here now, just two, three feet away from Minseok, minutes away from where he'd decided to leave the comforts of the warmer side of the room to join where Minseok is standing on solid ground, and just seconds away now for starting his fourth gym challenge.

"Almost thought you wouldn't make it," Minseok whispers, then reaches out to give Kyungsoo's hair a light ruffle. The pads of his fingers aren't cold, but Kyungsoo does shiver at the first touch, at the brush of Minseok's skin against his own. "Would've been a shame if you'd fallen to the pit below–"

"Never," Kyungsoo mutters, then presses his hand to the Pokeballs lined along his belt. He can feel Gardevoir's and Grovyle's capsules shake when his fingers brush along the surface, growing even colder by the minute. He can feel the thundering pulse in his palms, at the back of his ears, in his temples.

He can feel his stomach twisting, _turning._ It’s a good lurch, though. So he continues, "I promised to finish my challenge before twelve and I'm determined to keep it,” and takes a deep breath. “I’ll make this a match you won’t forget."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Minseok answers, then gives him a curt nod. From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Minseok drumming his fingers on his hips, tapping his foot to a beat only he can hear. And he's smiling, the corners of his lips pulled up into a wild, wicked smile. This is the challenge, Kyungsoo thinks, not giving in to familiarity, the urge to smile, the desire to just play out this match without any goal but to have fun. But he's here to earn a badge, not to just test out new combinations. He's here to win.

"Don't set yourself up for disappointment, kid," Minseok calls out for the last time, then finishes with a wink.

"And don't let your guard down!" Kyungsoo says right back. A big, bright smile breaks across Minseok's features. It's the prettiest smile Kyungsoo has seen in a while.

Kyungsoo cracks his knuckles in his free hand as he plays with the Pokeballs in the other, checking the capsules one by one. The biggest problem he'll encounter in this match, and possibly the only thing that might give him trouble, is the fact that three out of five of his Pokemon are weak to ice-type Pokemon. Grovyle's final evolution offers no resistances to ice, and Pelipper suffers from a secondary type weakness even if being part water-type makes ice-type attacks not as effective against it as it should be. Trapinch probably has it worst – the rest of its evolution line suffers from a quadruple weakness against ice, being part ground and part dragon-type. If he's trying to craft a well-balanced team then he's doing a shitty job at it. Baekhyun will cackle at him and won't let him live it down for the next three years if he ever found out. But then he's hardly had any time to look for new species of Pokemon, tame them and then train them. It's almost impossible to do that these days when he spends half the time helping his Pokemon master their moves so that they can dish out enough damage despite type disadvantages.

Excuses, he tells himself. He's just been really lazy to do anything than to try to solve the mystery behind Seoul gym's leader disappearing, the logic behind all these legendary Pokemon attacks and whey they took place where these disasters happened. He's been slacking off as a trainer, veering from the path he'd set for himself. He's lost his way another time and now he's about to face a leader who has ice-type Pokemon in his arsenal. And he expects to win? _Crazy._

"Screw type disadvantage, really," he grumbles, then takes three Pokeballs from his other hand. He slots the capsules in the battle Pokemon scanner, then clips them back to his belt once the computer has run its checks. He can feel the capsules shake against his belt, can feel the heat pressed to his waist where the surface of the ball meets his skin in the lightest of touches. He risks a glance at it, then – this one's Grovye's Pokebal, he can't be mistaken – and takes a deep breath. This can go both ways – either Grovyle's too sick to battle, or it's too excited to contain its energy in its body and it just _has_ to let Kyungsoo know that it's so, so eager to battle. Or maybe _he's_ just imagining things again. He's hyper reactive, radioactive.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself. If he has to lose then he'll just do it the best way he knows how – bringing out the best in his Pokemon and helping them learn through this challenge, this test. Coaxing them to climb out of their shell so that they can achieve their fullest potential before they fall deeper into the pit of defeat. So he cracks his knuckles, gulps down hard. Takes a deep, deep breath when Minseok calls out to him to ask, "Ready?"

Gardevoir's Pokeball gives a tiny shake. He grins. "Ready whenever you are."

In all the years Kyungsoo has spent watching and studying Pokemon battles, he's never really seen trainers hold matches in a field of ice. Even Lorelei, the longest reigning champion of ice-types, never battled her challengers on such a surface. She’d go with one of those standard rocky terrains that the League had and attempt to freeze the opponent’s Pokemon with the powerful attacks of her partners, but that was it – all power, no fancy tricks. No field of ice, no icicle spears stemming from the ground, no cool temperatures that make Kyungsoo cough. He must have watched a hundred – no, a _thousand_ matches already, and yet not one of them was held in a place such as this. The logic behind it was simple: battling on a slippery surface is dangerous, _ridiculous._ It's crazy. No trainer would ever want to put his or her Pokemon in danger, after all.

But then Minseok sends out Abomasnow as his first Pokemon, throwing its Pokeball in the air without any trace of apprehension or fear. Kyungsoo can see it in the way Minseok stands tall, shoulders pulled back as soon as the capsule returns to his hand, can see it in the way Minseok holds his head up high and surveys the field with the cheekiest of smiles as soon as the Pokemon lands on the field on its feet. And Abomasnow isn't even shaking. It lunges in Kyungsoo's direction and grins when it starts to hail in the gym, when the cold temperature on field drops to freezing. And Abomasnow dances in a small circle just in front of Minseok, chanting its name while it waves its arms around.

"I promised to use him in my battle with Baekhyun but there was a change of plans," Minseok explains. He takes a few steps forward, then reaches up to give Abomasnow's head a pat. Abomasnow lets out a low hum in response, but with how deep the Pokemon's voice is it sounds more like a groan or a sign of bad things to come. Kyungsoo shivers, grimaces a little. Part of him feels like singing and just _battling,_ though. "So if he gets carried away with the dancing and all the attacking, I apologize in advance."

That's not the mark of a good trainer, Kyungsoo wants to say, that's a clear sign of lack of control over your partner. But he gets it, to an extent, the reality that trainers can only do so much to keep their Pokemon from doing things they are passionate about. As a Ralts, Gardevoir had gone against a lot of his orders and pushed itself to its limit in an effort to save Kyungsoo from all types of things – tripping on rocks, falling flat on his ass in front of too many people. Having to take an Aura Sphere to his gut just so he could keep his other Pokemon away from harm. Dragging him out of his decade-long slump and easing him into change. Helping him get to where he is _now._

Ralts is a Gardevoir now, and _he's_ still Sinyuk-ri's Do Kyungsoo, little Do to some. He's twenty, not ten years old. He can't just remain stuck in his past forever; he has to catch up with his Pokemon, somehow. He can't just let Gardevoir lug him around all the time. That's stupid, inconvenient. And he doesn't want to be an inconvenience to his Pokemon. He has to do his part and get a move on.

He takes a deep breath and feels for the third Pokeball in his belt. "Tell me about the hyper ones, really," Kyungsoo whispers in response, laughing a little, then summons his pick. Pelipper comes bursting from its Pokeball, spreading out its wings and flying in a tight circle before flying closer to where Kyungsoo is. It lands on his head, teetering forward for a while before finally regaining its balance. Just like old times. "This one might be just as lively as your Abomasnow."

Minseok snorts. "You'll know what I mean when we start battling," he mutters. He looks up at Pelipper, though, squinting for a while and nodding, slow and deliberate. "Great choice, though. A type combination that neutralizes that of Abomasnow’s.” Minseok nods, just a gentle bob of the head that culminates in a bubble of laughter. “I’m impressed."

Kyungsoo gulps hard, feeling his cheeks burn. He presses his lips together in a tight smile. "We haven't even started yet," he answers. On his head, Pelipper taps a beat with its feet. It doesn’t hurt as much as it should, or maybe it’s just the lurching sensation at the pit of his stomach making the light tapping seem like gentle nudges. Making him take a step forward, inch closer to the start of their match. "I'm just about to have fun."

"Let's get started, then," Minseok says. He steps behind the thin blue line, assuming his place in the trainer's box. He gives Abomasnow one last pat on the head, though, before anything else, a quick smile that melts into a vacant expression as soon as he crosses the line. And then he's back – the same person who'd traveled all the way from Chuncheon-si to Seoul just to make sure they go to his little city safely, a trainer knowns how to lure legendary Pokemon to himself, a gym leader who isn't only able to bring the residents of his area of responsibility together so that they can work towards restoring the fallen city but is also able to ignite the flame of a good challenge in the trainers hoping to go up against him. Like turning on a switch and slipping into familiar robes as quickly as possible.

"Be careful with the hail. That will damage you even if you just stay on the defense," Kyungsoo tells Pelipper, then. The Pokemon nods, pulls its wings back, and then its flapping its wings in a slow, steady motion again. _Steady and slow,_ but Kyungsoo can feel the boomerangs of wind caressing his toes, tickling him. Leaving sore marks on his skin without warning and turning them from flesh to a bright shade of red. It's the safest speed Pelipper can flap its wings at, though, the slowest it can go to keep itself off the ground and steady enough to avoid the hail.

Steady, _right,_ Kyungsoo mumbles to himself. Abomasnow is slow but has great defensive capabilities, so Pelipper can't just go all-out on the offense. It has to wear Abomasnow down in the slowest, most torturous way possible. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then, and looks to his side, meeting Pelipper's eyes as he tries to tell his Pokemon, no tricks this time around, Pelipper. We're here to win. But I promise we'll have fun after this so won't you please, _please,_ listen to me now?

"Be my guest!" Minseok calls out from the other side of the field.

"Alright–" Kyungsoo begins, then cracks his knuckles. "Pelipper, use Air Slash on Abomasnow, now!"

Pelipper lets out a sharp cry before folding its wings in, then increasing the speed it flaps its wings at. It starts firing off boomerangs of wind, then, all of them just grazing the sides of Abomasnow's body instead of hitting the opponent dead center, where Abomasnow is the weakest. Doesn't matter, though, Kyungsoo tells himself, smiles a little when he sees the sheet of ice behind Abomasnow crack. If there's one thing he's found himself to be really good at, it's making a mess of a Pokemon gym by utilizing every single inch of space inside the dome.

The ice cracks again, the sound faint but just sharp enough to reach Kyungsoo's ears. He grins. "Keep at it!" he tells Pelipper, then gives his Pokemon a curt nod, "Maintain a steady pace now, Pelipper, don't go too fast!"

"You're just attacking the air!" Minseok says from meters away, voice trailing off into laughter. He has his head cocked to the side, one hand on his waist as he surveys the area. Kyungsoo can see it, the hint of apprehension in Minseok's features, in the way he doesn't let his shoulders slump all the way and the way keeps his knees bent _just a little,_ like he's prepared to jump away from a crash or an explosion anytime. Training, endless training – that's what's fuelling Minseok right now, keeping him steady on his feet instead on shaking on the ground because of the insane cold inside the gym. "Hands on the ground and use Ingrain, Abomasnow!"

"Oh _come on,_ " Kyungsoo groans under his breath. Pelipper shakes the tips of its wings for a moment and flies up, circling the dome and holding off on attacking. Maybe it's thinking of the same thing, shaking its head at the fact that Abomasnow will be regaining the energy and stamina it will be using throughout the battle as long as it's on field and has its roots planted on the ground. Or maybe it's just trying to thaw itself out, flapping its wings much faster than before as it goes round and round the dome without any sign of stopping.

"Too cold," Kyungsoo mutters, shaking his head. He scans the field for anything that he can use – boulders, icicles, _glaciers_ , anything that Pelipper can hit to stun Abomasnow for even a split second. What Pelipper needs right now is for an opening, because no way in hell will an Air Slash be enough to take down an Abomasnow, even from the most powerful of Pelippers.

Unless you melt the whole field, a voice at the back of his mind says, since you’ve already started breaking down the rocks. A few meters away, Minseok has just called out an attack that Kyungsoo didn't quite catch. It looks a lot like Icy Wind, or maybe a priority move given that Abomasnow's attacking faster than Pelipper despite its meager speed. The chunks of ice are big, almost a quarter of a fist, and they're headed in Pelipper's direction in a crazy fast speed.

"Duck!" he calls out to Pelipper, then looks back at Abomasnow. The roots attached to its feet are glowing the brightest shade of green, helping Abomasnow regain more energy than it's losing. He huffs. And if he squints, maybe he'll see Pelipper shaking its head and hear it groaning as well. This can't be good. "Pelipper, try to fly higher and then start firing Air Slashes again from there!"

Pelipper addresses him with a quick nod, and then it's taking a sharp climb to the skies, stopping when there's only a few inches between its beak and the ceiling. From where Kyungsoo is, he can hear Minseok chuckling, mumbling something that sounds a lot like 'if I absolutely have to hate one type, just one type, then it has to be flying'. This isn't cheating, though; he's just trying to use a type disadvantage to win, trying to turn things around despite the bad match up in terms of both typing and attack variety. And Minseok is probably just kidding around, if the smile on his lips is any indicator of that, but Kyungsoo can't let his guard down. A moment of weakness can mean missing an opportunity for Pelipper. A split-second of indecision can cost him a win.

Pelipper comes to a halt some five, six inches from the ceiling, and then it starts firing Air Slashes in Abomasnow's direction again. The Pokemon scores a clean hit this time, smack in the middle of Abomasnow's face, and then Abomasnow's right arm, and then its torso. Soon, Abomasnow's groaning in pain and its eyes are glowing the brightest shade of red – in pain or in frustration, Kyungsoo can't tell yet, but the smile on Minseok's lips is telling him not to sit back and relax just yet.

"That... can't be Frustration or Bide," Kyungsoo whispers to himself, then sneaks a glance up at Pelipper. Pelipper has stopped attacking, instead circling the dome with broad flaps of its wings and a loud, sharp cry. It has slowed down considerably, though, like it's trying to regain its energy by evening out its breathing, taking things easy. Not feeling the pressure of the match but instead trying to have fun while battling the opponent, instead. "And Abomasnow is the final evolution so it can't possibly be–"

"My Abomasnow has anger management issues," Minseok says, voice soaring above Abomasnow's enraged cries that are slowly chipping at the ice. He folds his arms over his chest and transfers weight to his left foot, craning his neck so he can see Kyungsoo over Abomasnow's shoulder. The corners of his mouth have softened, no longer the same bright grin that he'd worn earlier, but they're still quirked into the slightest, subtlest of smiles, one that makes Kyungsoo shiver all over. He feels his stomach lurch. "I suggest not taunting it too much. Unless you... want to see Pelipper faint in just one hit."

Kyungsoo gulps hard. He's heard of one-hit knockout attacks before – they're high-risk moves that can put both the Pokemon using it and the one being attacked with it in danger. Without the right training, it's impossible for a Pokemon, no matter how rare or how high its level is, to pull off an attack so powerful, so destructive. There had been reports on Dugtrio using Fissure in a city before after receiving the command from an inexperienced trainer. There were some on Kingler strangling Pokemon until they choked with a Guillotine, as well. "Just thought I'd try it," said the Kingler's trainer, injured and almost all bloodied up. It's been five, six years since Kyungsoo has seen that on the news and yet it still gives him chills, makes the hair at the back of his neck stand up.

He curls in his fists and sneaks a glance at his Pelipper. It's picking up speed again, and it's wiggling the tips of its wings the way it does when it's planning to do something different, something Kyungsoo hadn't really told it to do. One time, he asked Pelipper to launch a Wing Attack at a horde of Seedot and Pelipper took all of them up in the skies, instead, before sending the Seedot falling to the ground one by one. He managed to come out of the forest unscathed, thanks to Pelipper, but with spontaneity comes risks. Pelipper broke its left wing and had to rest for two days. Grovyle who was training nearby had to cushion the fall of one of the Seedots and injured itself in the process. Kirlia almost went overboard with its Psyshock attack in an attempt to keep the Seedot from hitting the ground too hard. Little things adding up to something big and, ultimately, could have been deadly.

He stares longer, then, trying to search for Pelipper's gaze. Keeps his eyes focused until he locks eyes with his Pokemon and Pelipper gives him a small smile. It's the same smile Pelipper had given him back in his gym match against Joonmyun in Tokchok Islands, the same brand of confidence in the way Pelipper stretched out its wings like it was saying, _look, I may be a bit wild but when have I ever let you down? I've won you important matches, kid. Do I look like the type of Pokemon who'd make his trainer cry?_

"Fine," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. He doesn't look away yet, though, watches Pelipper for a few more seconds until he see faint wisps of wind take shape along the path Pelipper has been circling for the past few minutes and studies the look on Pelipper's face to the best of his ability. He remembers this from somewhere, sometime in the recent past – a week or so ago? Back in Tokchok Islands or when he was crossing Muan-gun and Pelipper was still a Wingull? He can't tell yet. All he knows is that the air around them has become even colder and it has become night impossible for him to more, much less breathe.

What the _hell,_ is his first question; the second, do Pokemon really have to pick up new moves smack in the middle of a battle?

"Smart move," comes Minseok's comment from the other side, lips pressed together into a tight smile now. Abomasnow is swaying from side to side. It looks a bit dazed, confused, but Kyungsoo pays no attention to that. Instead, he lets the green berry dangling from Abomasnow's neck steal his attention and _shit–_ "But not as smart as this."

Abomasnow eats its berry, and in a second its eyes are turning even a brighter red. Two beats, and then its body glows, bound in bright light before it thins into faint sparkles. Back on its feet and standing tall, Abomasnow looks like it has just come from a long period of rest and now it's ready to take on whatever challenge it's faced with. Like it's ready to take down Pelipper within the next few minutes. With a one-hit knock out move or an ordinary one so powerful Pelipper won't be able to fight back, it doesn't matter – after receiving that attack boost from using Swagger on itself and removing avoiding the effects of confusion, Abomasnow is more intimidating than ever, even without the threat of Pelipper taking a one-hit knock out move to its face.

"Dammit," Kyungsoo mutters through gritted teeth, shaking his head in the process. Too good, too smart. Minseok knows his Pokemon too well. He shakes off the shock, though, pulls his shoulders back as he feels laughter crawl up his throat. "Swaggering your own Pokemon, _nice,_ " he comments, then, voice just loud enough for Minseok to hear. Minseok chuckles in response; Abomasnow beats its chest with its hands. And Pelipper still hasn't stopped circling the air. “Looks like a carbon-copy of a famous technique before though!"

Minseok snorts, but his entire body shakes when the sound leaves his lips. Kyungsoo feels his knees shaking. The temperature's gone way too low now that he can't even wiggle his toes even if he wanted to. Part of him wants to scream at Pelipper, saying, whatever you're thinking of doing better be good because I'm _freezing_ down here, but he can't even feel his lips anymore. His head is spinning and the air around them is thinning and it's fast becoming difficult to breathe.

He takes a deep breath and clears his throat. Pelipper picks up speed, the fastest Kyungsoo has seen his Pokemon fly ever since he'd caught it as a Wingull. He isn't even sure if this is normal, or if Pelipper is reacting to some mega evolution stone that it somehow got into its beak or if he's just _imagining_ things because fatigue does that to you sometimes, right? Messes with your senses and your brain and makes you believe in the impossible? So he digs his nails deeper into his skin, relishing the pressure and the mild sting, and holds onto that as a single vessel of reality.

"So is this your personal Beat Up-Justified combination?" he manages to choke out between coughing. He sucks in another deep breath and holds it in a little longer, until he feels the knot in his chest loosen and until his fingers begin to thaw out. "The one from... seven years ago? In Kim Jaejoong's best of three against–"

"Kwon Boa, herself," Minseok continues, chuckling. Soon, he's laughing, the bubbles of sound cutting through the wild whooshing of the winds and the loud thumping in Kyungsoo's chest. “This one’s an original, though. Also, _impressive memory_ but you'll _have_ to learn how to focus, little one!" Something in Minseok's expression shifts, then he's grinning and fixing his gaze on his Pokemon, eyes focused and unrelenting. "Abomasnow, Icicle Crash on the Pelipper, now!"

"That can't be good," Kyungsoo murmurs under his breath as he sees Abomasnow concentrating all of its power into firing off sharp spears of ice. Abomasnow launches the attack in Pelipper's direction, cutting through the thick sheet of wind beginning to envelop them now with the sharp ice. Most of the spears crash to the ground, shattering the thin sheet of ice on the field a bit more, but some shards manage to get caught in the whirlwind – is this even a whirlwind? Kyungsoo can't tell – Pelipper is creating and keeps strengthening. "Break away!" he calls out to his Pokemon, then, and shits his glance between his Pokemon and Minseok's own. Some of the shards of ice Abomasnow had tried to aim in Pelipper's direction comes crashing into Abomasnow's body, some slamming near the Pokemon's feet, smack in the middle of Abomasnow's face, its chest, but it doesn't seem to be deterred – if anything, Abomasnow's looking livelier than ever.

But it has Snow Warning as its ability, a voice at the back of his mind says. And Pokemon can only have _one ability_ despite the wide roster of special traits that these Pokemon might have. So Abomasnow can't be both healing up with how it has rooted itself to the ground and the way the ice is hitting him – maybe Abomasnow's just getting started, has just thawed out even if the temperature’s keeps dropping every second. "Pelipper, I said, _break off the twist–_ "

Pelipper slows down a little, just by a fraction or a second, until their eyes meet. A traitorous cold crawls up Kyungsoo's nape, wounds itself there, around his neck, until he's choking on his own spit. Until he's beating on his own chest and thinking, _shit,_ this isn't a whirlwind. Pelipper's not trying to blow Abomasnow away; it's trying to attack Abomasnow with a move that might leave Abomasnow in a daze, as well. "Hurricane," he whispers under his breath, and wraps his arms around himself even tighter as he watches Pelipper go for another round, then another, then another.

He gulps hard. He can call out an attack just to bluff the Hurricane Pelipper is still preparing to launch, try to make Abomasnow break off from the roots it has wound around itself for a moment so he can help stop Abomasnow from recovering any more energy. _Or_ he can use the force of Pelipper's attack to come up with something that will make it easier for Pelipper to his Abomasnow and secure him a win through this one attack, given that Hurricane has very dismal accuracy outside rainy conditions and might just end up with Pelipper damaging itself. So he digs his nails into his palms even more, calls out to Pelipper to say, "Flap harder and faster and try to use Air Slash from up there!"

Minseok laughs, shrill and bright. Even with the loud whipping sound of the wind, Kyungsoo can still hear the sound so clearly, cutting through the sheets of winds thickening and closing in on them and–

He feels a violent push from behind, like someone had just pushed him off the edge and to the ground, and then it's gone, replaced instead by a cool, cutting sensation close to his nose, making it glow a bright shade of red. "You've got to be kidding," he whispers, looking up to meet Pelipper's careful gaze, then feels for his back. No cuts, no scars, not even a hint of damage even if Pelipper had just _dragged_ a hurricane past his own body and Minseok's own. The only damage Kyungsoo can see, can make out even with the sheet of blowing winds making his vision a bit hazy and fuzzy, is the crack on the floor, stones and shards of ice lifting off the ground. The knots that were once tied to Abomasnow's ankles now loosened after the winds literally swept Abomasnow off its feet and pushed the Pokemon to the ground.

"Get up, buddy!" Minseok calls out from the other side of the field. He clears his throat, then says, "Use Icy Wind on the funnel then try to reach Pelipper using Rock Climb!"

Crazy, is the first though that occurs to Kyungsoo. The second, _fucking_ dangerous. If the ice breaks and Abomasnow is already at a great height then Abomasnow might break more bones than ice. Before that even happens, though, Abomasnow will be able to put an abrupt halt to Pelipper's flying and that means Pelipper losing its momentum, putting too much strain on the joints of its wings and maybe even breaking one of them. Two great risks in exchange for a blind leap of faith as Abomasnow begins sucking in a deep, deep breath, then fires a stream of cold from its mouth. The winds at the bottom of the funnel begin to slow down, turn a bit softer instead of hitting hard like the whips of winds that they are, but soon the ice breaks and Pelipper flies even faster.

Faster, but in tight circles. Faster but with a thinning diameter, like it's closing the funnel of winds at the top and keeping Abomasnow from breathing. "Fucking genius," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, but he does't laugh just yet. Doesn’t breathe easily until he feels the same sheet of winds push him forward this time as Pelipper narrows the funnel and frees both Kyungsoo and Minseok from it. But then as soon as Pelipper seals the tip, Abomasnow can start doing what its trainer has instructed it to do and just crush the winds into smithereens with one, two, maybe three Wood Hammers aimed at the thick sheet of ice. And then both sides are back to square one with Pokemon drained with just a bit of energy but just as eager to fight.

"Keep at it!" he hears Minseok call out, a few shards of ice reaching the narrowing tip of the funnel and grazing Pelipper's body. There are scratches on its beak now, and from where Kyungsoo is he can see bits and pieces of ice catching on Pelipper's wings. Some of them have found a home between the feathers, keeping Pelipper too cold for comfort and making it slow down. Kyungsoo seethes, then, sucks in a deep, rattling breath as he tries to rack his brain for – an idea so clever that even he, himself, will be blown away by it. An idea that Minseok won't see coming and will just laugh at as soon as he sees it unfold right in front of his eyes. Something that isn't part of Kyungsoo's well-crafted plan to earn his third gym badge after not being able to take on the gym challenge in Seoul because of that leader who leaves his gym unattended 90% of the time.

He bites the inside of his cheek. Abomasnow's part grass-type so the damage won't really mean much, but chip damage will still help him in the long run. He has to start inflicting direct damage to Abomasnow, as well, or else they'll be battling here forever, using defense as their best attack. So he calls out to Pelipper, "Use Scald before closing up the funnel!" and risks a glance at Minseok. Minseok cocks an eyebrow in response, and then he's parting his lips, letting them fall open into a weird mix of a smile and a small 'o' that eases the tension that was once in his cheeks.

Pelipper tilts its head down, still flying in circles while attacking using Scald. Wisps of smoke begin to slither from the base wall of winds, filtering through the sides of the funnel and eventually up top. Another full minute of attacking then Pelipper closes up the funnel, pulls away and slows down the flapping of its wings. It flies closer to where Kyungsoo is, much closer to the surface now than to the ceiling, and then Kyungsoo sees it, hears it – the funnel glowing a bright shade of red, steam crawling across the field and melting the ice. Abomasnow's strangled cries and whimpers as it remains trapped in the warm, _humid_ funnel that Pelipper has created for its opponent.

He turns to his side for a moment and addresses Pelipper with a steady gaze. "Can you still battle?" he asks, voice almost dropping to a whisper. He inches a bit closer then, just close enough for him to feel the still numbing cold of the field pressed to the tip of his shoes, wrapping around his ankles and crawling north until his knees shake. "I can switch you out for Gardevoir. Then we can try to pull off something like this again. Capitalize on the burn chance and speed control using Scald and Icy Wind–"

Pelipper slaps him with a wing and groans. it's almost as if the Pokemon's saying, _when have I ever tapped out of a battle just when it's beginning to get better. When have I ever run away from a fight? When?_ So he laughs a little, whispers a faint, "Sorry," under his breath before clearing his throat to say, "Okay, turn that Hurricane over and make it roll along the field with your Air Slash."

Opposite him, Minseok lets out bright and rough laughter. It sounds coarser than his usual laugh, like the cold has finally gotten to him and is scratching at the walls of his throat. And maybe it is – Minseok's shoulders are shaking and his body is giving these tiny jerks that aren't set to the rhythm of Minseok's chuckling. Minseok's nose is a nice, pale shade of red. And he keeps wiggling his fingers, shaking them like he's trying to restore the feeling in his limbs, trying not to let himself slip into a brief moment of relapse. Trying not to lose control. "I should've listened when they told me you had a habit of wrecking people's gyms," Minseok calls out and he flexes his fingers, cracking his knuckles in the process. "Maybe then I wouldn't have tried to do some restorations before Baekhyun tried to blow up my gym earlier."

A corner of Kyungsoo's lips quirks up. He scoffs. He did that, he wants to ask, wants to know the extent to which Baekhyun made use of the field and every corner of the gym to his advantage, but he doesn't. _Learn how to focus,_ he hears Minseok's words ring in his ears, hears the thundering pulse at the back of his ears, feels it at his base of his throat where he hiccups instead of laughing. So he files that question to the back of his mind, saves it for a later thought, and nods in Pelipper's direction as if signalling his Pokemon to go, go on, do as I say and do it well. Doesn't say anything even when Minseok adds, "You two are alike in a lot of ways."

"If that means winning, then thanks," he mutters. Pelipper swoops for a dive just in front of him, then it's flying fast in the direction of the mid section of the funnel, firing off Air Slashes to push the funnel forward and get it to start rolling. "But our styles are different. He knows _nothing_ about defense and–"

And Minseok doesn't need to know about that, not anymore now that he's battled against Baekhyun _and_ Baekhyun has won against him, earning himself a badge. Heck, maybe he didn't even have to mention that because he can't be the only trainer who studies the styles of other battlers, other _competitors_ who are in a quest to eight badges to gain a ticket to the Pokemon league and hone their Pokemon’s skills even more. Every trainer would want to know how his opponent battles, how his opponent uses Pokemon – their attributes, their personalities, their abilities, the moves they learn throughout the training process – to their fullest potential. And Baekhyun isn't as stupid as his little blunders make him out to be. He's one of the best players Kyungsoo knows, if not the best trainer he's ever had the chance of going up against. Sure, the gym leaders are a great challenge, in their own right, and they always put him in tight situations that require him to think of other ways to win instead of just straight up firing one attack after another or keeping a good and tough defense, but facing Baekhyun in battle feels different. It's like having to get up on stage to give an extemporaneous speech and squinting at the spotlights just so he won't get blinded. It's like having to sing a song he's hearing for the very first time in front of hundreds, _thousands_ of people and being expected to leave a nice and lasting impression on the crowd gathering around him.

It feels like rushing into a Pokemon gym knowing full well that nearly half of the Pokemon in his roster are weak to the type he'll be up against, but pushing through with the test, anyway. It makes his stomach lurch and makes him curl in his toes. It's thrilling, almost exhilarating.

"I knew you two had something special," Minseok comments, then digs his hands inside his pockets. He sways in his position a little, leaning back, and heaves a sigh. "But you _both_ have to learn how to focus on just one thing instead of thinking about _everything_ during a gym battle. Abomasnow, Sheer Cold, now!"

Kyungsoo widens his eyes at the command and tries not to stutter back in his steps. He's only heard about Sheer Cold being used once, and it was years ago in Lorelei's battle against Lance, Japan's Kanto Pokemon Regional Champion and the crowd favorite. Dewgong's attack missed and cost Lorelei the match, the _championship,_ but then she was already down 1-3 in the last match of their best of three series. She lost the two Pokemon she lead the match with – Jynx and Cloyster who both had a really great match up against Dragonite and Gyarados – but ultimately fell prey to being a bit more complacent than the usual when she'd decided on using Shell Smash on her Cloyster to up her Cloyster's attacking power at the expense of lowering its defenses. If things were different, though, if Dewgong had only hit that Sheer Cold and taken out Lance's Dragonite and Druddigon and _possibly_ the other dragon Lance still had on reserve as his last Pokemon, then Lorelei would have won. And she'd be the first person in half a decade to defeat Lance, the dragon master, in three tight matches to become the new Champion of the Kanto region.

So this is Kyungsoo's fifty-fifty chance: if Abomasnow launches Sheer Cold successfully, Pelipper's efforts go to waste and his Pokemon faints. If Abomasnow misses by the width of a hair then Pelipper lives, gets the chance to stick around until the next match, if circumstances permit. But on the off chance that Abomasnow misses _but_ manages to land a nice, clean Icicle Crash, Pelipper still loses. With wings that are close to giving up and after using up so much energy in just trying to perfect the Hurricane attack it had just learned, there's no way for Pelipper to be able to survive an attack from an Abomasnow at plus two attack, thanks to the lingering effects of Swagger–

"Confusion," Kyungsoo whispers under his breath. _Right,_ Hurricane has a secondary effect of confusing the target, while Air Slash has a chance to flinch. The chances aren't too high, but with the proper timing and angling, he _might_ just be able to control luck and sway it to his side. "Pelipper, Air Slash on the Hurricane! Keep it rolling and don't allow Abomasnow to attack!"

Pelipper nods and picks up its pace, firing off a boomerang of wind after another. Each flap of the wing is stronger, every whip of wind more powerful and leaving Kyungsoo shaking and shivering all the more. Pelipper isn't letting on, keeps attacking without showing any signs of slowing down. It's almost as if it's gotten back an ounce of its energy just by seeing Abomasnow get trapped in the Hurricane attack and wince at the sting of the steam caused by the Scald. And Abomasnow seems to be glowing beneath the thick sheet of winds, meaning– It's been burned? He can't tell at the moment. If the winds would only thin then he'll be able to see Abomasnow better, be able to see if Pelipper indeed has the upper hand and is only inches, seconds away from winning the first match in the best of three.

"Full power, Abomasnow! Blizzard on the winds, _now!_ "

The once warming air drops to a freezing cold, and then the hail stones begin to plummet to the ground faster than Kyungsoo can step to his side to dodge. Minseok is unmoved, though, hands still in his pockets and his eyes fixed on nothing, no one else but Abomasnow. Or the thinning funnel, at least, because soon the thick cloak of winds Pelipper has enveloped Abomasnow with freezes all over and disintegrates into these tiny shards of ice, floating in the air as they make their descent. Pelipper stays suspended in mid air for a moment, and then it's diving straight for Abomasnow, firing one sharp Air Slash after another in the opponent's direction. "Too fast," he hears Minseok saying, catches Minseok shaking his head and chuckling and rolling his eyes as Abomasnow gets tackled to the ground by the whips of air. "I've never seen a Pelipper like yours. It's pretty unreal."

Kyungsoo shifts his gaze for a moment, stealing a glance at the Abomasnow grimacing and wincing in pain on the ground. The loose ends of the roots still peek from where the Pokemon has ingrained itself onto the ground, so he calls out to Pelipper, "Cut the roots!" and fixes his gaze on Abomasnow's writhing figure. It isn't showing signs of fainting just yet, but it isn't in the best of positions, either. After taking damage from the Hurricane attack, then the Scald and the steam, _and then_ taking all those Air Slashes to the chest, it's impossible for Abomasnow to be at fifty percent of its health, at most. A few Air Slashes should take it out, but if there's anything Abomasnow can do to get back into the game then it's using Ingrain and gaining energy back from where it will be rooting itself to the ground and fending Pelipper off with ice-type attacks.

A snip, and the roots come off completely. Another, and Pelipper flies past Abomasnow to knock it back to the ground even before it can attempt to get up. "Scald on the field, now!" Kyungsoo calls out, and watches as his Pelipper slows down in its flight to get a good aim at Abomasnow.

"Wrong move," he hears someone say in a voice so faint he could have been just imagining things. The wicked grin on Minseok's face tells him otherwise, though. "Now, Abomasnow, focus and use Sheer Cold on Pelipper!"

Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath as he watches Abomasnow's eyes glow a fierce, angry red, its entire body facing Pelipper. This isn't Sheer Cold yet, Kyungsoo knows it, but something about the look on Abomasnow's face is keeping Pelipper from even trying to breathe. Scary Face, possibly, a voice at the back of his mind says, _it can't be anything else,_ but it's becoming impossible to go through his glossary of Pokemon attacks just so he can identify this one move and try to find a counter to it. His body is shaking in the cold and his knees feel weak and his chest feels _so damn tight_ that hecan't even feel himself breathing. All he knows right know is this – that Abomasnow is stretching its arms wide and summoning forth an intense cold, that Pelipper's stunned and frozen in place. That, on the other side of the field, Minseok is nodding in approval, the smile on his lips so self-assured, and that he hasn't shifted his gaze from his Pokemon. That just a few feet away, Abomasnow is fast losing its energy as the bright red glow in its eyes dissipates. And then both Pokemon are collapsing – Pelipper a few feet away, plummeting to the ground, and Abomasnow collapsing flat on its back as it shuts its eyes and its arms fall to its sides.

Kyungsoo counts to three, to five, to ten, up until the air around them thins and he hears the sound of ice cracking. Neither Pokemon has gotten up, much less moved a little or opened its eyes. Minseok hasn't budged an inch, either. And Kyungsoo can still feel it, the numbing cold knocking at the back of his knees, begging to felt, to be recognized, to take root in his body. So he kicks one of his legs in the air, and then tries the same on the other, until he feels his toes and ankles again and the tips of his fingers no longer feel like they might come off anytime.

And then he breathes out – slow, measured, loud. His chest still feels tight and heavy and his throat feels so dry, but half of him just wants to fall to his knees and crawl to wherever Pelipper is, try to check if his Pokemon is _at least_ breathing, just see if there's anything, anything at all, that he can do to bring Pelipper back to life and thaw it out–

"Both Pokemon are down. The first battle of the match is a draw," the system announces. Then he hears Minseok's breath hitch, hears the shuffling of Minseok's feet, sees Minseok scurrying to where Abomasnow is to take his Pokemon in his arms.

"Crazy," Minseok mutters under his breath, shaking his head as he does so. He runs his hand along Abomasnow's face as he tries to guide his Pokemon to sit up, to rest against his body. Then he presses his cheek to Abomasnow's chest, shutting his eyes for a quick second then letting out a long exhale. "I said knock out Pelipper, not yourself. What the hell were you thinking?"

Kyungsoo gulps hard and bites the inside to choke down a whimper threatening to spill from his lips. He can still feel it tickling his throat, can still feel it _there,_ waiting for that single moment of weakness when Kyungsoo parts his lips to call out to his Pokemon, but he keeps his lips pressed together in a thin, thin line. He begins to make his way to where Pelipper is, then, steps slow and spaced out so he won't fall on his ass and make a fool of himself on the road to checking how his Pokemon is. But then the field isn't as slippery anymore. He can feel the ground beneath it, can feel something _solid and sturdy_ instead of the fragile surface he saw Abomasnow move across during battle.

"You won't fall," Minseok calls out over his shoulder. His lips are tugged up in a small smile, and his eyebrows are no longer furrowed in a tight knot. And his eyes are soft at the corners, almost weakening. His shoulders are hunched and it makes Kyungsoo's insides turn a little. Looking at Minseok like this – too soft, too vulnerable in the presence of his injured partner – feels like taking a punch to the gut and spreading his arms wide to urge people just keep punching him until he drops to the ground, flat on his face. It feels a bit like that time when he rushed to where Ralts was and shielded it from the flock of Spearows attacking it just to keep it safe. It makes Minseok feel less like a leader with an ice-cold heart and more of a trainer who just cares about his Pokemon more than he does, himself. It makes Kyungsoo's throat go dry even more. "The ice is dry but not smooth and slippery. You can't skate here."

Kyungsoo nods in acknowledgement and takes a step forward, then another, then another, until he's only a few good feet from where Minseok is. "Another one of my secrets," Minseok rushes, whispering, then winks as he ends. "You'll want to get your Pelipper off the field, though. Non-ice-types won't be able to last long here, on ice. Not after sustaining those injuries."

"Thanks," he mutters in response, then rushes to where Pelipper is. He scoops the Pokemon in his arms and guides Pelipper's head forward so the Pokemon can rest it on his shoulder, but soon Pelipper's pecking the back of his head and flapping its wings about. " _Relax._ It's just me," he whispers in Pelipper's ear, but it takes a few more hums to get Pelipper to calm down. And then he feels the full weight of the Pokemon on his shoulder, hears Pelipper's soft whimpers, hears the faint, faint apology in the way Pelipper groans.

"Hey, it's alright. You did your best," he answers. He presses a soft kiss to Pelipper's beak, careful not to brush his lips against any of the scars on his Pokemon, then continues, "And that's what's important. I'm still proud of you."

Pelipper laughs. Or at least that's what it sounds and feels like before Pelipper slumps back into Kyungsoo's arms and stops pecking the back of Kyungsoo's head. Kyungsoo pushes himself back on his feet, then, walking back to the warm ground, and keeps his arms wrapped around Pelipper in a grip just tight enough to keep the Pokemon from wriggling free from his embrace. It sort of takes him back to one of those many times when Seungsoo would come rushing to the beach after work and pick Kyungsoo up, carrying him back home because Kyungsoo had gotten a wound or two while playing with Baekhyun and Sunyoung, takes him back too many miles away from solid ground and back to the steady waters around Sinyuk-ri that used to keep him trapped in the little island.

And then there was that one time when he and Baekhyun'd gotten themselves badly bruised from rushing to the beach without slippers on because Sunyoung was drowning. She got cramps in her legs all of a sudden. It was enough a reason for both him and Baekhyun to drop the dried fish they'd been eating and head to wherever she was. Once they'd already saved her, Baekhyun tended to Kyungsoo's wounds like he, himself, hadn't sustained any, like he wasn't wincing with the coarse pebbles still pressing against his sore skin. Baekhyun had his lips pursed then and his eyebrows were furrowed and he kept telling Kyungsoo without meeting his eyes, "Aish, you never learn. You keep hurting yourself just so you can save Sunyoung from drowning but _what about you?_ What if you didn't know how to swim? What if the waves were too big? What if–"

"You did the same thing."

"You _fended off_ the Carvanha about to attack her. What if they actually hit you or something? What if they hurt you–"

"What if you just shut up and closed the wound– _ow!_ "

"What if you thought about yourself for once?" Baekhyun said, looking up Kyungsoo through the narrow slits of his bangs. "What if you stopped trying to save others and tried to save yourself first?"

He takes a deep, shaky breath now, inhaling noisily through his nose. It scores a line of cold in his nostrils. It makes him shiver. It makes him want to curl up in a corner and just shield himself from the cold. He doesn't. Instead, he lays Pelipper down on the floor and flicks off the ice that had gathered on the tips of its wings.

"Can you battle?" he hears Minseok call out from a few feet away. The sound comes out muffled, though, with how Minseok has his lips pressed to one of Abomasnow's cheeks. So Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder, addresses Minseok with lifted eyebrows and a soft hum. "I said, can you still battle? I mean, that first match was pretty intense. I'd understand if you needed a quick break, maybe five to ten minutes, to recover. You can't go giving out orders to your Pokemon while you're still shaken."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. Spoken like a true trainer, he almost says. Spoken like a _responsible_ gym leader. Pelipper steals all of his attention, though, gives his head a gentle nudge until he's shifting his gaze to his Pokemon. It doesn't hurt much, but it does leave a dull ache in the side of his head. And his cheek feels sore from being pressed against Pelipper's beak for too long. "And your Pelipper probably needs you right now. Won't even let me talk to you for a second. Have you always been this close?"

If Minseok means 'has it always given you this much headache' then yes, Pelipper fits that role perfectly. It's always been the most playful among the bunch, after all, the most difficult Pokemon to control among all those that Kyungsoo has captured and trained in his roster of five. It's a nice Pokemon and gets along with the other Pokemon in his party, but Pelipper is... different. It's a character of its own. It doesn't have a set battling style – it plays out a battle according to its mood, what it feels like doing, doesn't really stick with a plan and just wings most of its battles. It doesn't even like battling that much, and Kyungsoo would even go as far as saying that Pelipper probably won't battle at all if it didn't need to survive and if its friends weren't so into duking it out with other Pokemon, strong and weak, alike. Pelipper just wants to have fun, and there's nothing wrong with that. Because don't people also learn through enjoying something, through having fun? Isn't that what makes battling more than just a vicious cycle of harming Pokemon and earning from it and more of a sport where everyone can get better and help each other grow?

Kyungsoo laughs a little, then, and pushes Pelipper up with one hand when he feels his Pokemon slipping. Looks like he won't be able to pull off freezing or melting the field again, not with Pelipper out of commission. "We're... working on it," he tells Minseok, then pauses to take a deep breath. "I'm still trying to learn his battling style. Our styles just... clash. He's not like Grovyle or Gardevoir who battle with victory as a goal. Pelipper's in it more to–"

"Have fun than anything else, yeah, I can see that," Minseok finishes. He laughs, then gives Abomasnow's cheek a light tap before coaxing it to get inside the Pokeball. "But I like how you took advantage of Pelipper's being spontaneous and just went with what your Pokemon wanted. I mean, using Air Slash to make the Hurricane _roll_ along the field? Who even–" Minseok snorts, laughs, _cackles._ It makes Kyungsoo's insides turn a little, but when the sharp crackles of laughter lift he finds his courage again and looks in Minseok's direction. "I wouldn't have thought of that. It was _genius._ Risky, possibly deadly, but _genius._ "

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek. "Did you hear that?" he whispers in Pelipper's ear. "Someone liked the weird stuff you did up there. Great improvisation–" And then Pelipper bumps its beak against Kyungsoo cheek in response, humming before slumping back in Kyungsoo's arms. "Maybe you should go to that trainer now since our styles obviously don't match–"

A hard smack to the cheek, and Kyungsoo groans. "Your Pokemon loves you too much," Minseok comments, voice cracking a bit, but something tells Kyungsoo that the way the corners of Minseok's lips tug up and down then up again has something to do with it. "It just has a weird way of showing its adoration."

Like trainer, like Pokemon, a voice at the back of his mind says. It sounds a lot like Baekhyun. He shakes his head, then, and laughs a little, the bubbles of sound on his lips thinning into silence soon after.

They resume the battle ten minutes after, once Pelipper is well enough to get back inside its Pokeball. Minseok shows him to the healing station on the other side of the room, opposite the Pokemon registry system for battles, and they leave their Pokemon there to rest up while Kyungsoo continues his quest for next badge. It feels a lot like sending off your kid to school for the very first time and watching him walk away, into the classroom, disappearing behind the doors. Sure, there's the promise of seeing your child again, but Pelipper's wounded, bruised. _Injured._ He's never had to leave his Pokemon in the Center after they'd taken a bad beating from a match.

Focus, he tells himself, blinks twice as he toys with the Pokeballs in his hand. He only has Gardevoir and Grovyle left in his arsenal, and he has to at least put some offensive pressure on Minseok's Pokemon so he can establish an early lead. That way, he can score two wins in the succeeding games and not have to push the match to a deciding fourth battle. Not possible with the Pokemon you have, though, he mumbles to himself, switching around the remaining capsules on his hand until he decides on a Pokemon to use. Knowing Minseok and after seeing a slow yet bulky Pokemon from the leader earlier, there's a huge chance that Minseok will go for something that hits harder but it a bit of a glass canon to be able to secure a win. There's only a handful of picks, though – Weavile? Glalie? Vanilluxe? There are only so many ice-types that can hit hard _and_ relatively fast, after all.

"It's got to be Weavile," he whispers to himself, then clips one Pokeball back to his belt. Pelipper's Scald would've come in handy for the burn chance to keep Weavile from dishing out powerful attacks, trying to keep it from dishing out too much damage and to slowly chip at its health while attacking, but he doesn't have Pelipper anymore. Sableye might have been a good match up, as well, but Sableye's better off supporting its teammates than taking down opponents on the other side of the field with its greater defenses and middling offensive power. So this is his best bet, his best shot at trying to gain that lead against Minseok and try to stay in the game. "Ready whenever you are!"

Minseok smiles, one corner tugged up more than the other. He has an eyebrow raised and he's spinning a Pokeball on one finger. It almost feels like he's a hundred percent sure that he has the game in the bag, that Kyungsoo _may_ be three steps ahead but he's five steps ahead of him, reading Kyungsoo like an open book. Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath, then, tightening his grip on the Pokeball in his hand. "I wonder if you'll read this one right," he mutters, then he's chucking the Pokeball in the air, sending the Pokemon bursting out of its capsule. "Go, Mamoswine!"

"I am fucking done for," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath as he watches the mammoth Pokemon emerge from its Pokeball. The ground shakes as soon as Mamoswine lands on its four feet, making the ice beneath it crack a little. Kyungsoo feels the tremors at the back of his knees when they give away a little, feels them in his ankles when he tries to steady himself on both feet. The thumping in his chest has picked up pace again, stronger and wilder than before. It makes sense for Minseok to send out Mamoswine, though. Who needs speed when he gets priority in Ice Shard? Couple that with Mamoswine's great attack and passable bulk and what have you got? A powerful attacker and a force to be reckoned with. Another obstacle keeping Kyungsoo from earning his third gym badge with already twenty minutes on the clock.

Minseok snorts. "Looks like you didn't," he mutters, then cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo. "So, who will it be for you, little one?"

Kyungsoo draws the Pokeball to his lips, then presses a light kiss there in lieu of the words lodged in his throat, the same words that won't let him breathe easily. "Go, Gardevoir!" he calls out, then, throwing Gardveoir's Pokeball in the air and watching as his Pokemon emerges from the capsule. Gardevoir lands on its feet and looks on either side of it for the briefest of moments, then over its shoulder to lock eyes with Kyungsoo. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks he sees a trace of apprehension in the way Gardevoir widens its eyes a little, in the way Gardevoir looks over its shoulder and into Kyungsoo's eyes, waiting for a command to carry out for the first time in a while. Gardevoir has always been one of Kyungsoo's more intuitive Pokemon, after all; it can battle without an order from Kyungsoo. But then this is foreign territory. There's still some ice on the floor. It's still too cold. So he cranes his neck, searching for Minseok's gaze, asking permission if he can head to where his Pokemon is for a quick second before they resume play.

Minseok laughs, snorts. Shakes his head, then breathes out in a loud sigh. "This isn't high school anymore, Kyungsoo," he begins, the corners of his mouth softening as the continues, "Nobody's called out an attack yet. The match is still on hold."

Kyungsoo nods. Then he walks over to where Gardevoir is, reaching out to thread his fingers through Gardevoir's hair. "Hey, you can do this. It's just ice," he begins, then nudges Gardevoir in its side when the Pokemon just gives him tight-lipped smile. "You were almost able to take out a legendary and yet you're afraid of _this?_ "

Gardevoir groans at him, then slaps him on the arm. The worry in its features hasn't waned completely, but at least Gardevoir's smiling a little now. And Gardevoir's inching even closer to where Kyungsoo is, stopping only to wrap its arms around it's trainer. "Garde...voir?"

He takes a deep breath at the way his chest tightens out of the blue, at the way memories come rushing in without preamble and pin him in place. He can see it, can feel it now – the same ripping sensation that he gets whenever Gardevoir teleports him to safety, the same sensation that he'd felt when Gardevoir linked with him in order to mega evolve. He can see flashes of their journey through all the routes, all the mountains and caves and cities, where they met both new Pokemon and trainers. He can see a bit into the past where Kirlia popped out of its capsule while Kyungsoo was resting and practiced on its own with the purpose of being strong enough to be able to link with Kyungsoo and evolve another time. Stared at the mega evolution orb for the longest time and closed its eyes as if wishing, wishing really hard that it could someday pull off mega evolution with Kyungsoo.

And he can see Gardevoir looking up at him now with a smile on its lips, with nothing but determination in its eyes as a voice echoes in his mind – _Let's do it again._ It sounds nothing like the old voices he's once heard when he locked himself up in a room and curled in on himself. It doesn't even sound like Minseok or Sunyoung or Soojung or Professor Kwon. Not even Baekhyun. It's familiar, though, enough that when he closes his eyes, he pictures this: chirping birds in the distance, the sea, an island just a few meters from their little village where a tiny Ralts is being attacked by a flock of Spearows.

He laughs to himself and takes a deep breath. A heartbeat, then he pulls away. He can still feel the violent upward tug at the corners of his lips, though, can still feel the gentle coax of laughter tickling his throat. He nods.

"Let's do it."

→

Thirty minutes.

It takes Kyungsoo and Minseok thirty more minutes to wrap up their match, takes thirty minutes for Minseok to decide if Kyungsoo _does_ deserve the Icicle badge and deserves to take one step closer to his dream of becoming Korea's next Pokemon League Champion. It doesn't surprise Kyungsoo, though. About seven minutes into the match against Mamoswine, he'd switched out his Gardevoir and promised to use it for the next match since he'll have to win three of four, anyway, after the first battle ended in a draw. Summoned Grovyle, instead, despite potentially running into the risk of falling to Mamoswine's super-effective ice-type attacks against his grass starter. What Mamoswine boasts of in power, though, it lacks in speed, and that's what Grovyle capitalizes on – Kyungsoo makes Grovyle use Leech Seed on Mamoswine for both chip damage and to get as much energy back as he can while he dishes out attacks, then asks his Pokemon to use Leaf Blade on the ice field. Mamoswine then ends up getting trapped in an ice cage of sorts – Grovyle's improvisation, not his – and that's when Grovyle gives off the brightest, most blinding glow.

Kyungsoo recalls holding his breath, recalls almost falling to his knees because it's too cold and his knees just feel like they'll give away any second and because Grovyle has just used Mamoswine's own typing against it. He didn't even have to tell Grovyle to plant those icicle spears all around the mammoth Pokemon; Grovyle thought of that on its own. It's almost as if Grovyle can read his thoughts, as if Grovyle can tell, just by the sound of Kyungsoo's voice, whether or not he's just asking his Pokemon to perform a certain attack of if he is, in fact, telling them to go wild, have fun, if you want to trap your opponent in a cage then go ahead. That will make my day,

"Careful– I told you to stop moving around too much," he tells Grovyle – no, _Sceptile_ – now as he dabs cotton swabs on Sceptile's wound. He's just finished cleaning them up, but there are still traces of blood here and there. And then a nasty cut along its tail from where Glalie – Minseok never sent out Weavile, never even had one, Kyungsoo discovered after the match – attacked Sceptile with a Frost Breath in its Mega Evolved form. Sceptile was close to fainting then, and that was when Kyungsoo sent out Gardevoir. Asked Gardevoir to link with him and Mega Evolve, then win the match after surviving two Frost Breaths with just a sliver of health then fighting back with a Hyper Voice. "Will you just _keep still–_ "

"Whoa, a wild tail appeared!" Sunyoung says as she skips a step when Sceptile swipes its tail along the floor. She stutters in her steps, the liquid in the bowl she's holding almost spilling from the edges, but not for long – Gardevoir manages to help her get back on her feet. She mumbles a soft 'thank you', then, and gives Sceptile a pat on the head before getting on her knees to feed the Pokemon. "Sorry if the soup's bitter, by the way. If there's one thing I can't cook, ever, it's Pokemon food. The type that _cures_ and not just fills the tummy with happiness."

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes in response and reaches out, trying to ruffle Sunyoung's hair, but all he ever succeeds in doing is fluffing Sunyoung's bangs and almost burying his face in Sceptile's chest. "I'm sure it's not that bad," he mutters, then takes the bowl from Sunyoung. From a corner of his eye, he can see Sunyoung holding up both her hands and crossing her fingers, so he takes a deep breath before taking a whiff of the soup. Takes a small, small sip, after that, before pulling away and looking at Sunyoung with wide eyes. "What the hell is this? This tastes like garbage."

"You've tasted garbage before?"

"Shut up," Kyungsoo groans. He narrows his eyes at Sunyoung when she answers with a grin. The closest to garbage that he's tasted is that leftovers dish that Baekhyun came up with in the past, some twelve years ago. He still maintains that only the kimchi made the whole dish taste better (and the yellow radish, as well). "I told you to puree six Lum berries and six Sitrus berries–"

"I might have... added... a bit of Moo Moo Milk to the soup? To make it creamier?" Sunyoung beams up at him, canines peeking. "My Swellow loved it, okay!"

"Swellow are known to eat anything and everything."

"She didn't _squirm._ "

Kyungsoo takes another sip of the soup. It still tastes like kimchi and dried fish and miyeok, all close to rotting, put together but at least he doesn't want to throw up anymore. That's an improvement. A few more sips and maybe he'll start going delirious and the berry soup will taste like the best thing since sliced bread or hongoe hoe. "Fine," he says, then, letting out a long exhale, then hold a finger up in her direction. "If he swings his tail about again, _you_ will be the one paying for the damages, okay?"

Sunyoung sticks out her tongue but runs a hand along the slope of Sceptile's neck, anyway. Sceptile leans into the touch and lets out a low groan, but it doesn't retaliate. Sunyoung has always been exceptionally good at dealing with Pokemon, at making those traumatized by whatever unfortunate experience warm up to her just five minutes into knowing them. "You just miss Baekhyunnie because that's the only thing he's good at – making berry soup," she mutters. Kyungsoo doesn't look over his shoulder yet, doesn't react, but he does keep stirring the soup instead of taking a spoonful so he can have Sceptile take a sip already. "Where is he, by the way?"

"Mountains, then he'll be going to Sokcho-si. Should be back by evening? Yeah," he whispers in response. He leans closer to Sceptile, then, lifting the spoon close to Sceptile's mouth. The first sip makes his Pokemon grimace; the second makes Sceptile's body give a tiny jerk but not powerful enough to knock off any of the medical supplies around them. It takes a while for Kyungsoo to catch on, to notice the white noise crackling all around them and to feel the weight of Sunyoung's stare. If Sunyoung ever calls him out on it, he can always say he's too immersed in trying to make his Pokemon feel better to even think of what she's trying to say but can't.

"Don't fall in love with me, now," he mutters when he meets Sunyoung in the eye. Sunyoung rolls her eyes and motions to throw a pillow at her, but she never pushes through with it. Instead, she only shakes her head and leans back against the foot of the couch, head resting on the cushion. "I'm just saying, if that ever happens then you know you're setting yourself up for disappointment–"

" _I_ was here the whole time you were battling, Soo," she begins. Kyungsoo presses the spoon to Sceptile's lips for a last sip, then drops the spoon to the bowl once he's done. " _Here,_ in the Center, with him. We were eating and talking during lunch and he was telling me about his match. Kept talking about how his Camerupt almost solo-ed the gym until he took a critical hit from Frost Breath from the leader's Glaceon. And he looked as if he was... looking for a particular type of reaction, y'know? Not my style – you know how I react to matches. I match people's running commentary of battles with _my own_ running commentary of what they could have done." She pauses, lips hanging parted, then lets out a long and loud exhale. And then she's opening her eyes again and sitting up, looking in Kyungsoo's direction but not quite meeting his eyes yet. "He... looked as if he was hoping someone was there to document the match because it was one of his best performances yet."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. "So he can go back and study his match, see what he could've done better or what he can keep doing in his future battles. _Or_ so he can marvel at his performance again and again– _Yeah,_ he'd be the type," he says after a while. He lets out a low exhale, then, just under his breath, and seethes when he feels the cool breath a sore part of his lips. When he drops his gaze, he finds a few cuts along the edges, just small scars that will will forever remind him of the long and tiring battle he has just gotten through. "He could've asked anyone. I bet he has a lot of fans–"

" _My point is,_ we were together the whole time you were away. As in, one minute we were talking and then the next minute he was walking through the doors with his Pikachu in tow," Sunyoung says interrupting. She flexes her fingers then locks her arms in front of her, stretching, but she hasn't looked away from Kyungsoo just yet. If anything, she's looking at him more closely now, her entire body facing him. "I guess he didn't want you to think that he was running away from you again so he called you, huh?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath and holds it, right there where his chest feels the fullest. He can feel the thrumming pulse in the pads of his thumbs, in his palms, can hear it beating at the back of his ears and even his knees. It was the first message he'd received as soon as he got out of the gym, the first thing he saw on his PokeGear once he and Minseok parted ways at the door. _Going to Sokcho-si, be back tonight,_ said the first message, without any spaces between the words. It's almost as if Baekhyun had texted in the middle of hiking a mountain or during an encounter with a wild Pokemon. Or while he was walking, with nothing but a thick blanket of silence and the summer wind accompanying him to his old hometown.

And then much later, _Promise I'll be back in time for dinner. Tell Sunyoungie to cook :D_

"Texted. He... sent a message earlier," Kyungsoo whispers after a while. From a corner of his eye, he sees Sunyoung shift, sees her lean closer like Sceptile isn't there between them, keeping them apart and keeping Sunyoung from forcing Kyungsoo to look into her eyes. "Not sure what time he sent it but I read it when I got out of the gym–"

"He doesn't do that," Sunyoung comments. She shifts in her position, drumming her fingers on her knees now instead of clasping her hands in front of her. "You... know he's the last person who'll give updates on his whereabouts unless he's asked. He likes his freedom. Sort of like a dog who's been on a leash for the longest time." She laughs at that, snorting before giving in to the urge to get lost in laughter, then she's shaking her head. And part of Kyungsoo wants to laugh along, wants to just accept that yes, this is Baekhyun trying to make up for all the lost time, that this is Baekhyun trying to piece Kyungsoo back together after shattering him so many times already. And it would be so easy, really, to just give in, because this – finally standing on the same ground after being separated for a decade, finally knowing what they want from each other – this is too many years in the making. And it's becoming even more difficult to push Baekhyun away whenever he comes too close, leans in to brush his lips along the underside of Kyungsoo's jaw but doesn't quite lean close enough for a kiss. "Soo, he's trying. He's trying really hard to meet you halfway and–"

"Mission," Kyungsoo mutters in response, eyebrows lifted as he gives Sunyoung a stern gaze.

"Bullshit. You know you're just using that as a silly excuse."

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and scoffs. He can feel Sceptile's burgeoning weight in his side, can feel the rush of cold crawling from the tips of his fingers to his shoulders with every passing second. Can feel the thundering pulse at the base of his throat, as well, acting against him and pushing down all the words he knows he _has_ to say. "You know what's at stake, Sunyoung. There are thousands – no, _millions_ of people depending on us, whether willingly or not, to make sure that they're safe from all those legendary Pokemon attacks and from getting their Pokemon poached and from– from _whatever_ Team Rocket is planning again." He breathes out, long and loud, then inhales noisily through his nose. Coughs a little, as well, to which Sunyoung's body gives a tiny jerk in response. Sunyoung points at the berry soup as if saying, well, if you're so bent on lashing out at me without choking on your words then you can drink that, but he brushes that off. Looks up at Sunyoung, instead, to continue, "So I've made a choice. And I choose to put other people's safety before my own interests because _they need us,_ Sunyoung. And I don't need this–" Don't need Baekhyun, he almost says, but he knows that's a lie. Even he can't string those words together. "–this mess of a relationship or whatever you want to call it. I need peace. Peace of mind that I'll be able to achieve through world peace."

Sunyoung lets out a huff, then leans back in her seat. “What if you try solving your own problems before taking on that of others?" she whispers, then nudges Kyungsoo with her foot when she doesn’t get a response. If it was anyone else, it would have been gross, but this is Sunyoung – Sunyoung who has known him since they were kids, Sunyoung who has seen him graduate from diapers to boxers and then briefs. Sunyoung who probably knows him more than he, himself, does because he's never paid much attention to the voices in his head that sound like him – he only ever listens to Baekbeom, to Professor Kwon, to Minseok who has a lot of knowledge to offer. To Soojung who has information on the Rocket hideouts, and to Sunyoung who's been nudging him for the past five, ten seconds, trying to get his attention.

He looks up, meeting Sunyoung in the eye, then breathes out. He curls in his toes.

“What if you tried to put yourself, first, for once, and actually started doing _something_ because you want to and not because you have to?

“What if you stopped being afraid?"

→

It's already close to sunset when Kyungsoo emerges from the entrance to the cave, missing three Pokeballs in his belt but his bag considerably lighter than before. He'd done some catching earlier, trying to collect as much data for Professor Kwon's research and for his Pokedex. It's been almost a week since he's really had the chance to go out to just hunt for new species of Pokemon and study them, after all, been days since he's last held an empty Pokeball in his hand not because he's summoning his partner back to its capsule but because he's planning to catch one with it. It's just him, Sableye, and his newly-evolved Vibrava this time – he'd left the three that went up against Minseok's Pokemon back in the Center – and he can't say it feels normal, _the same_ as how it would be if he was catching Pokemon with Grovyle – _Sceptile,_ he has to get used to that – and Gardevoir teaming up to make the catching easier, but they weren't any less productive. Six new catches, six new data for his Dex. Two rock-types, three steel-types, and a cute little Vulpix holding a gem he can't seem to make out yet added to his arsenal.

Sableye taps Vulpix's Pokeball thrice, and out comes the little fox from its capsule. Vulpix shakes its tail and lets out a little puff of flames, but Sableye doesn't even flinch. Instead, it snickers, even reaches out to ruffle Vulpix's hair before hiding behind Kyungsoo's leg when Vulpix lets out a sharp cry.

"Vulpix was resting, Sableye," he whispers, then bends over to try to get Sableye back to its capsule. But to no avail – Sableye scurries up his arm in a flash and wraps its limbs on his head, making Vulpix hit Kyungsoo with the ball of flame instead. "And you, little one, stop fighting him. If you two keep fighting each other, I'll deposit you in the box and–"

"That's really, really cruel," he remembers Baekhyun mentioning one time, during one of those late-night trainings they had back in – Muan-gun? Pyeongtaek-si? Maybe Tokchok Islands? He can't remember anymore. He used to mark locations with memories of Baekhyun, but with Baekhyun sticking closer and closer, grip tightening on Kyungsoo's wrist by the minute, it's becoming more difficult to remember places for what they are and not for the scars they leave on him. Kyungsoo was deciding on which Pokemon to bring that time, telling Baekhyun that it wasn't important for him to be carrying around a party of six wherever he went. Said he couldn't bond with all the Pokemon he'd already caught, that he wasn't so keen on switching his team around every so often. "C'mon, they can't be that bad. I mean, _sure,_ some Pokemon like Feebas are really, really useless–"

Kyungsoo'd snorted then. "Your love for Magikarp is _astounding._ "

"Shut up. Magikarp is amazing," Baekhyun groaned in retaliation. He kicked Kyungsoo in the calf, then shifted his attention a bit to cheer on his Lombre. He still had one hand on Kyungsoo's own, though, tapping some weird beat on the back of Kyungsoo's hand with his cold fingers. His free hand was resting on his lap, but it felt as if he was squeezing Kyungsoo's heart with it. Kyungsoo shook his head, took a deep breath. He was probably imagining things.

" _As I was saying,_ some Pokemon really suck, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't give them a chance," Baekhyun continued after a while. He slid his hand south so that their fingers were intertwined at the tips. They looked like kindergarteners on a field trip, except they weren't going anywhere. Kyungsoo was stuck here, in the web of Baekhyun's attention. It wasn't as if he'd planned on getting out. "One, two battles, maybe even three – just let them hang out with you a bit, try to see if their battling style suits yours. Or... Or you can have them battle the Pokemon you've been carrying around for a while already! A good way to test... synchronicity or something. Harmony, whatever you wanna call that. And if the two Pokemon somehow... I dunno, bring out the best in each other, push each other to do better, hit harder, then add the new Pokemon to your team. If they don't, well, at least you can say you didn't just... box the 'mon without letting them prove themselves to you, right?"

Kyungsoo blinked a few times and then there it was, the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun's lips, the subtle curl at the corners of his mouth. Little scars on the gentle swell of his bottom lip where Baekhyun had probably worried his lip too much again. He'd do that whenever he was nervous or just feeling uncertain, nibble on his lip and then scar himself in the process. If anybody called him out on it then he'd say that he got the habit from Kyungsoo. Blame him. _He's the one who's scarred me._

Baekhyun hummed, chuckled. Kyungsoo gulped down hard. In most cases, it meant trouble, but that time it felt more like Baekhyun wanting to rub in Kyungsoo's face that he'd won, he'd won _again, Kyungsoo's a loser–_

"You're blushing," Baekhyun whispered then. His bottom lip trembled and he choked between syllables, but the smile on his lips hadn't waned yet. If anything, it had already reached the corners of his eyes, lighting up the rest of his features despite the dim lighting in the area. It softened the hard angles of his jaw, sort of lit up his eyes even more and lifted the tension at the corners of his lips. It made Kyungsoo's stomach lurch. "You're _actually_ blushing! That's so–"

"Stop it," Kyungsoo groaned, swatting Baekhyun's hand away. Baekhyun was quick to stop him, though, trapping him by gripping both of Kyungsoo's wrists now, and _shit,_ wrong move again, Kyungsoo thought as Baekhyun inched closer. He could feel Baekhyun's hot breath on his skin, could feel it prickling the bridge of his nose and his cheeks and the cut on his lip from where Pelipper had hit him on accident during practice. And he could feel the vibrations of Baekhyun's steady humming in the thinning space between them, coaxing him to lean in, telling him to _come closer–_ "I'm not blushing. It's just– The lighting here's really bad and–"

"I think it's cute," Baekhyun said, interrupting, then tilted his head forward. Two beats, then Baekhyun was kissing the tip of his nose, his forehead hot and sticky against Kyungsoo's own. Kyungsoo's first thought was _gross;_ his second, too close, too intimate. Too good that even if he wanted to push Baekhyun away for fear of falling even more, he didn't. "But y'know what's cuter? You trying out new Pokemon. Getting out of your comfort zone. Trying something new."

Kyungsoo snorts now, then coughs when he feels the sting of the warm, humid breeze. Just a few more minutes 'til sunset and the temperature will drop to a comfortable range again, making it easier for him to travel back to the city and just enjoy the night, maybe come home to Sunyoung's sumptuous cooking and stories on how _her_ gym challenge. It was too hot and humid in the cave earlier; the breeze out here, the cool shiver crawling up his nape – they make him smile a little. Maybe he'll even see Soojung back on her feet when he gets back. Maybe Soojung will be ready to tackle some battles tomorrow but mostly just eager to get out of the recovery room already. And maybe he'll run into Baekhyun on his way back. Then they'll share a comfortable silence, dragging their steps so it will take them twice as longer to get back to the city.

Vulpix bumps its nose against his and his body gives a tiny jerk in response. Over his shoulder, Sableye's reaching out to Vulpix again, maybe to bop its nose this time, so he looks to his side and gives his Pokemon a stern look. "One more prank and I'm keeping you inside your Pokeball for three days," he tells Sableye, and that's when Sableye groans, wrapping its arms around his neck, instead. It makes him shiver a little, the slide of Sableye's cool skin against his, but at least Vulpix is out of harm's way for the time being. Sableye never really means to bring harm upon people and Pokemon, but sometimes too much fun also means too many opportunities to get into trouble.

Kyungsoo scoffs. "You're exactly like someone I know," he whispers, then taps the top of Sableye's head thrice. Sableye looks up, tilting its head to get a good look at him for a second, and then it's climbing onto his head, sitting there like it's its throne. Too easy, he thinks – Pokemon find it too easy to give in, to surrender, _to trust._ They can never stay sad or mad for long. All it takes is a soft smile, a gentle touch. Three pats on the head or shoulder as a reminder that, _So the ‘keeping you in your Pokeball for three days’ thing was a bad joke, sorry. Friends? Partners for life?_

He lets out a low exhale, then cradles Vulpix in his arms. Vulpix lets out a low hum, the corners of its lips lifting as it buries its face in his chest.

If only humans can be the same.

He's halfway through his trip back to the city when his PokeGear gives a light buzz, three beats to the quickening pulse at the base of his throat. Hiking always makes his heart race; hiking _in summer_ can probably give him a heart attack, and he's just glad he's still alive despite being forced to hike and climb mountains too often back in Sinyuk-ri. He risks a glance at the Gear, then, squinting when he finds Baekhyun's name flashing on the screen, then a little note that says that the call's coming from a couple of kilometers north of his location, closer to the sea than to the land. His first thought it, there's reception in Sokcho-si? Why didn't Baekhyun ever call ten years ago? His second thought, didn't Baekhyun promise to return to Chuncheon-si after visiting his hometown?

He snorts. Can't really expect Baekhyun to come through with his promises despite his efforts at trying to keep them. Change is slow to come, after all; to Baekhyun, much, much slower.

" _Finally,_ I've been calling you for the past ten minutes," comes Baekhyun's voice from the other end of the line, muffled by the blowing winds and some static in the sound. He's whispering, though, voice just barely above a hitch of the breath. Maybe he's hunting for Pokemon and thought of a weird idea all of a sudden, felt the insane, consuming urge to share the information with someone who'll listen. Someone who'll just grunt and say, 'yeah, that's cool,' or maybe, 'that's really fucking stupid,' and then laugh his way through Baekhyun's sounds of protest. And it just has to be Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo pushes that thought to the very back of his mind, though, shakes it off as the winds ruffle his hair. Bless nature for knowing what to do whenever he doesn't. "I can't go back to Chuncheon tonight. I mean, I would if I could but then there's absolutely no way–"

That you can change your ways, Kyungsoo continues in his head. He bites the inside of his cheek, trying to keep himself _in this moment_ and not drown in his thoughts again. It's a strange and scary place, after all. "Afraid of the dark?" he asks, instead, trying to skip the whole drama ordeal and jump straight to the rationale behind the call. He's good at that, studying the bare bones of something and not trying to breathe meaning into the meat. He's good at structure, but never with flow. "Need someone to hold your hand while you walk back to the city."

"Will you?" Baekhyun answers, quick and sharp, like he's been rehearsing for this moment the whole time he was walking along the beach in Sokcho-si. He hums. Kyungsoo shakes his head. _Wrong again._ "Hey, I said, will you?"

Kyungsoo shuts his eyes. He can feel Vulpix shifting in its position, so he loosens his hold on his Pokemon a little until he feels Vulpix nuzzling the underside of his jaw. It's crazy how Pokemon know exactly what to do with their silly trainers and partners. It's even crazier that _he's_ not fighting back, not telling Vulpix off, not telling Baekhyun 'no' when he could've easily dropped that word as soon as Baekhyun had dropped his question.

He takes a deep breath, then licks his lips. I would, a tiny voice at the back of his mind says, _keeps screaming,_ but he shuns that away. Instead, he says, "You didn't call me to hold your hand." Clears his throat before adding, "Sunyoung said she's cooking tonight. Your favorite. You have to stop–" Disappointing her, us, _me_ he almost says. He swallows those words and rushes, "–making her cook all your favorites and bailing out at the last minute."

"I'm a disappointment, I know," Baekhyun mutters. Blows air into the receiver like he won't hear the brunt of the crackling noise, as well. He winces. "Sorry. I just–" And then the line's chopping up, muffling all of Baekhyun's words, pushing Kyungsoo's hazy thoughts back down, helping Kyungsoo steady himself on his feet.

Kyungsoo checks the Gear. Baekhyun is still on the line. He can still hear Baekhyun's breathing, but Baekhyun isn't saying _anything._ All Kyungsoo can make out is the sound of rustling clothes and hushed footsteps and muffled expletives in Baekhyun's voice and left and right and–

"Where the hell are you?"

Two beats, then a low exhale. "Seoraksan. I think the Rockets have spotted me. I saw their hideout earlier and–" There are some explosions this time, albeit muffled, but they sound nothing like the explosions Kyungsoo has heard on television. They sound more like the walls of the mountain crumbling after Landorus tried to block one of the exits leading to the closest city, sound like whips of wind blowing up everything in sight and wounding Pokemon in the process. And it sounds like it's close by. If Kyungsoo strains his hearing then maybe he'll be able to gauge the exact number of kilometers stretched between him and danger– “–Okay, cool, they didn't see me but they _are_ attacking the Pokemon in the area and they're putting up these... huge electric fences? While drilling deeper into the ground?" The sound gets muffled again and then Kyungsoo hears it – the heavy thumping in Baekhyun's chest, his heart thumping against his ribcage. The voices at the back of his mind telling him to go to wherever Baekhyun is, screaming at him, saying, _go, just look for him and help him get out and what the hell are you still doing here, Do Kyungsoo?_ "Okay, here's the plan: I'll send you my location and I'll keep my tracker on but I'll also alert Minseok-hyung and Professor Kwon and–"

"Stay alive," Kyungsoo mutters into the receiver. His chest is still heaving and every part of him feels like it's about to explode, so he takes quick, steady breaths to ease the thumping in his chest. "I'll take care of contacting the others. Just– Just stay safe and stay alive."

Baekhyun lets out a faint _oh_ in response, and then he falls silent. White noise with a few crackles of violence shattering the thick glass from time to time. Room sound so deafening that Kyungsoo forces himself to hear the sound of his breathing just so he won't get lost in the silence again. "You'll... come for me, right?" Baekhyun asks after a while in a tiny, tiny voice, but maybe it's just the choppy lines at work. Maybe it's just the sound deep inside Kyungsoo muffling Baekhyun's voice, drowning its wonderful sound. Maybe he's just imagining things, even as Baekhyun repeats, "Hey, you _are_ coming for me–"

A loud gulp, then Kyungsoo breathes out in a low exhale. He hums for a bit, hoping Baekhyun would get the message, but sometimes faint sounds get lost in transit. So he clears his throat and repeats, "Mhmm, I will," in a voice so loud, so foreign that he, himself, cannot recognize it. His throat feels so tight and dry and his chest feels heavy and his entire body is facing north, where Sokcho-si is, but at the back of his mind he knows what he should be doing – contacting the professor and the gym leader, telling them about Team Rocket's plans. Making sure that everyone's aligned on the situation at hand, then wait for Professor Kwon's go signal. Only then can he sprint away and withdraw the Swellow in his Pokemon box just so he can reach Sokcho-si in the shortest time possible.

The sound of explosions has died down. Baekhyun's heart is still racing, though, Kyungsoo muses. Or maybe that's his own.

"Promise?" Baekhyun asks, voice so soft he could've just been breathing, but Kyungsoo hears it loud and clear, nonetheless.

"I promise."

He walks back to the city as quickly as possible, careful not to startle Pokemon on his journey back. The first thing he does is to apologize to Sunyoung, to tell her that their friend's in trouble. Sorry for having to break his promise for the first time ever. _Promise it won't happen again._ "Are you sure you'll be alright on your own, though? Three of your Pokemon are still sorta tired from the battle," she asks as she pushes a bowl of stew in his direction. She's smiling, just a light upward curl at the corners, but her eyebrows are furrowed. Half of Kyungsoo wants to finish the entire pot of stew Sunyoung had cooked for them just to make her smile again; the other half just wants to heave a sigh and leave. "I mean, if you want me to come with you, if you _need_ me to come with you, all you have to do is to ask."

"But Soojung needs you here," Kyungsoo whispers.

Sunyoung laughs, bright and warm, like a quilt. He takes a sip of the stew as she says, "And you need Baekhyun."

Kyungsoo looks up, looks at her for five, ten seconds. Maybe even fifteen. He waits for it – for the biting spiciness of the dish to kick in and ease the weird sensation in his throat, to coax the right words out of him for a retort. But he's tired. For the past few months, ever since he started his journey as a Pokemon trainer, he's been tired – tired of walking from one place to another, tired of not having a place to call home. Tired of having to run away from Baekhyun or from pushing Baekhyun away, whichever he decides on going with just to rid himself of the sinking sensation at the pit of his stomach. Tired of having to fend off evil trainers, or trying to understand legendary Pokemon, or trying to save the world. And he's hungry. He just wants to eat and this bowl of stew that Sunyoung has prepared for him – for _them_ – is the closest he can get to coming home after a long day's work back in little Sinyuk-ri.

He lets out a long exhale, then, watching his breath catch on the surface of the stew. He can see himself on the reflection, can make out the dark circles under his eyes and the creases on his forehead. He looks five years older than he should be, maybe even ten. He looks the way Seungsoo did during the war, always so troubled, unsettled. Never quite comfortable with anything and everything around him, even when they're already underground and safe from any possible explosions close to the surface of water. And he looks like he's just about to surrender. So he closes his eyes even before he can see himself give in, curls his fingers tighter around the handle of his spoon as he says. "I need to make sure that he's safe."

Light laughter, then Sunyoung repeats, "You need him." She refills Kyungsoo's bowl with more soup, more kimchi, more meat. More things to remind him of home, of ten years ago, of the very reason why he didn't run after Baekhyun after Baekhyun kissed him, knowing that things had already changed, they'd already ruined everything, they couldn't ever look back. She doesn't say more, simply pours Kyungsoo some water and pushes the glass in his direction.

He watches water spill from the brim and crawl down the glass, drawing a messy doodle on table. Watches as the pin light on his Gear glows, this time a bright shade of red – an urgent call for help, a reminder of what he should be doing. Baekhyun calling him up again because there are things that Baekhyun simply cannot handle alone and this is one of them. So he needs help, and he's asking for help. And it has to be Kyungsoo. It always has to be Kyungsoo.

"I need him," he breathes out after a while, soft as a whisper. He catches Sunyoung's smile through the glass. He gulps hard. "I need him."

In five minutes, he finishes his stew and thanks Sunyoung for the great meal, saying, "The next time you cook for us, we'll all be here. _I promise._ " In another five, he's already slipped into a fresh change of clothes, better suited for the lower evening temperature. Packs an extra jacket for Baekhyun, as well, because Baekhyun's tolerance for the cold weather is as good as nothing. And then he's stepping outside the Center, heading up north where he came from earlier and journeying through the thickening darkness with nothing but a single goal acting as his beacon of light. Never mind that his eyesight gets progressively worse as the night settles, or that his knees feel like they'll give away with every step forward – those don't matter anymore. All that matters right now is for him to reach Baekhyun in the shortest time possible and to find Baekhyun doing fine, safe, _alive._

The sky lights up with a strange figure – two big circles, then dots punching holes in the middle. There's a thick line just below the two circles, and if he squints hard enough then maybe he'll see a face. It takes a while to sink in – the sketch, the signal, the message staring him down, screaming in his ears, so he leaps forward, runs as fast as he can to source of the light, and doesn't look back.

He can't look away, can't give in to the temptation of the night and succumb to fatigue. He needs to keep his eyes on this – the guiding light blinking at him, shining down on him – to get to where he should be.

He needs to let it reel him in right into the finish line, his goal, into Baekhyun's arms.

He needs Baekhyun.


	5. heated battles! facing team rocket and gangneung-si's ground-type leader!

"I still can't believe you actually drew a face in the sky just to mark your location."

"You mean you still can't believe I drew _your face_ in the sky for you to find me. We've been together for... I dunno, five minutes now? _Geez,_ " Baekhyun corrects, looking over his shoulder. He finishes with a wink, a wicked grin, and then he's wrapping his fingers around Kyungsoo's wrist in a tight, tight grip. It isn't humid anymore, not with the evening winds blowing against them in earnest, but Kyungsoo can still feel the sticky slide of their limbs, the way the webs of Baekhyun's hands stick to his skin even long after Baekhyun has closed his hand around Kyungsoo's wrist. And Baekhyun is warm. He only has the jacket draped over his shoulder and he's wearing track pants and a loose shirt, yet every part of him feels warm in the fit of their bodies.

"Hey," Baekhyun begins, tugging hard at Kyungsoo's wrist. Kyungsoo blinks a few times, then, snapping out of his reverie, and then he's sucking in a violent breath. "You alright?"

Stupid question, Kyungsoo wants to say, but the wind blows against their faces and pushes all the words back down Kyungsoo's throat. They're trying to look for the entrance to the hideout, trying to make sure that there aren't any Rocket grunts behind them who can shoot them down anytime. They almost got attacked by Pokemon who thought they were part of the evil gang. They're out here in the mountains, trapezing between Sokcho-si and Gangneung-si, waiting for the right time to infiltrate the enemy camp. _Of course_ he's not okay. Part of him feels oddly at ease, though, his chest light and the knot that once kept him from breathing easy now loose. And he can feel his hands again, can feel the rough pads of his fingers and the way Baekhyun shivers at the slightest touch when he moves a bit and bumps into Baekhyun.

So he answers, "I'm okay," doesn't say, could be better, but since you're alive then fine, _fine,_ I'm alright. Baekhyun doesn't buy it, though, simply looks at him with a focused gaze and furrowed eyebrows that meet at the center the longer Kyungsoo maintains the silence. He breathes out in a huff, hot breath catching on the bridge of Baekhyun's nose, and that's when Baekhyun leans back and looks the other way, muffling his sneeze against his own shirt. "Just– We really need to plan this out. We can't just barge our way through this and not have a plan. We don't even know what they're hiding here. For all we know, this hideout's just a decoy and there real action happens elsewhere, in– in–"

"In your dreams," Baekhyun finishes, shaking his head. When Kyungsoo parts his lips to speak, he lifts a finger to Kyungsoo's mouth and presses it to Kyungsoo's lips. "Ssh. Pretty sure this one isn't just a decoy. I saw some weirdly dressed people enter earlier. They weren't wearing the Rocket uniform but the Grunts were _scrambling_ to get on their knees as soon as the two arrived.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and nods in acknowledgement. He's prepared to lean back, to face front again so they sort of come up with a mental blueprint of the area, maybe try to figure out a plan for themselves when the right time to infiltrate the base camp comes, but soon Baekhyun's leaning and pressing his lips to the same finger he'd silenced Kyungsoo with. What the hell are you doing, Kyungsoo wants to ask, but that's not the type of question you pose when the answer is already so evident. Ten years ago, Baekhyun pulled him to the shore and held his hand, asked him to promise that nothing would change because nothing _has_ to change. Ten years ago, Baekhyun pressed his lips on Kyungsoo's own and pulled away as soon Kyungsoo kissed back. And ten seconds ago, Kyungsoo was just thinking of surveying the area again to check for any holes in the camp that they can capitalize on, but now he can't tear his mind from the warm sensation of Baekhyun's breath prickling his skin, from Baekhyun's fingers sliding up the curve of his cheek, from the loud thumping in his chest that's pulling him forward, closer to where Baekhyun is, whispering in his ear, let go. If there's one perfect time to drop anchor, Kyungsoo, then this is it. The time is _now._

"Thank you. For coming," Baekhyun whispers in the thinning space between their lips. His voice is steady, unwavering, but Kyungsoo can't help but chuckle at how the words have been strung together. It sounds like an expression of gratitude for not turning down an invitation, or for making his presence in a party known. It sounds like Kyungsoo leaving Sinyuk-ri in a heartbeat and swimming to the shores of Sokcho-si just to see Baekhyun again, taste his lips, kiss him one more time. "I mean, thanks for– for coming here to do the mission with me– _I mean,_ thanks for actually showing up because I swear to God, I didn't think– After everything that's happened, I didn't think you'd–"

"I always keep my word," Kyungsoo whispers. If he leans closer, he'll feel the soft gasp that has just escaped Baekhyun's lips touch his own and send a familiar sizzle down his abdomen. He doesn't. Instead, he gulps hard, closes his eyes, doesn't push back when Baekhyun rests his forehead against his own. "I told you, I always keep my promises."

Baekhyun laughs a little. Bright, but with a hint of bitterness in the way the sound cracks in a choke. "Right, because I'm the one who keeps screwing up," Baekhyun mumbles, then, inching even closer. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks of pushing the panic button, thinks of pushing Baekhyun away, but– _No, no more pushing people away now. No more running. But no going too fast, either._ So he just stays there, still as the waters of a lake, steady as a rock even if he can feel Baekhyun sliding the finger keeping them apart down, down, _down._ "Maybe I should stop making promises and actually just, y'know, surprise everyone–"

Kyungsoo chuckles. Baekhyun laughs, as well, his breath hot and sticky against Kyungsoo's lips. And then Baekhyun's sliding his hand down, holding Kyungsoo by the chin, pulling him closer. Even with the thin barrier between, Kyungsoo can already feel the light brush of Baekhyun's chapped lips against his, can feel Baekhyun's tongue graze his skin when Baekhyun licks a corner of his mouth. They aren't even touching yet, haven't said a word to each other about entering an agreement and coming to an understanding and finally meeting halfway, but then nothing else needs to be said – they've gone with silence for so long that they've already learned how to speak the language of their limbs, their lips, their bodies, the way they've built a stimulus for each other like being around each other is a natural thing.

Two heartbeats, then Kyungsoo feels something land on his skin, slide down the bridge of his nose until he can taste a mix of salt and water on his tongue. "Are you crying?" Baekhyun asks, laughing a little, but Kyungsoo never gets to answer. Instead, rain greets them, pouring down heavily after another heartbeat and drenching them in a thick blanket of cold. Kyungsoo shivers for a bit, shakes when he feels the biting cold wrap about his knees, but for the most part he can still feel Baekhyun's hot breath prickling his skin, making him too aware – of the rain, the distance between them, Baekhyun asking for a second time, teasing more than anything else, " _Perfect timing_ for a confession, man, you couldn't have picked a better time and place and–"

He pulls away in a rush, leaning back and putting distance between them again. For a moment, he thinks of looking up at Baekhyun, but then, from a corner of his eye, he catches the warm smile on Baekhyun's lips hardening into something cold, distant. He sees Baekhyun's shoulders fall forward, sees Baekhyun sort of slump in his position but not quite because he's reaching out again, this time for Kyungsoo's hands. He slides his fingers between Kyungsoo's own, slippery and wet. The fit feels a bit weird, awkward, but then the last time Kyungsoo has held Baekhyun's hands in the rain or in any body of water was when they almost drowned after Baekhyun got muscle cramps from swimming for too long. "Stay with me," Kyungsoo recalls telling Baekhyun that time, recalls gripping Baekhyun by the hand tight in an effort to keep Baekhyun conscious as he tried to steer them closer to the shore and away from harm. "Come on, Baekhyun, don't you– don't you dare give up on me now–"

"I don't know what to do with you anymore," Baekhyun whispers, breathing out. Kyungsoo looks up, only peeking from the slits of his bangs at first then lifting his chin when he sees Baekhyun hanging his head low. "I reach out but you just push me away. I try to– try to do things differently but you _just won't look at me–_ " He groans, looking up to face the skies with eyes tightly shut, then screams, just a sliver of sound that soon gets drowned by the sound of rain. Are you crying, part of Kyungsoo wants to ask, but he's never been the type to be upfront with people about feelings, emotions. He's never had to deal with them. All his life, he's never had to see himself in the mirror and see a stranger looking at him in the eye, wearing the same clothes as he is but looking much more worn down – not by years, but by experience. Scarred on the wrists by all the ropes that have been keeping him from swimming far from shore. And between the two of them, it has always been Baekhyun who's was a bit more courageous, the one who'd dance in the rain and then pull Kyungsoo into the mess five minutes in because _c'mon, Soo, this is fun! Besides, if we ever get sick, then at least we'll get sick together!_ The one who knew the answers to all the questions in the world – where are you going, what happens to us now? Why are you leaving? Are you ever coming back?

"What do you want me to do, Soo?" Baekhyun asks, shifting his gaze until their eyes meet. Kyungsoo shivers, jerks back for a second, then he's looking away. Not for long, though, because Baekhyun's tugging at the link of their hands, and Baekhyun is saying, " _Come on,_ Do Kyungsoo, tell me: what do I have to do to make things right? What do I have to do to– to–" He sniffs, coughs, grunts low when he doesn't stop coughing for another ten seconds. "What do I have to bring back those ten years? What do I have to do to win you back? I know I've been an asshole almost my entire life but _I've been trying,_ I've been trying _really hard_ to make it up to you and I've been trying not run away anymore–"

"And you keep breaking your promises," Kyungsoo whispers. At the back of his mind, an afterthought: you keep tearing me apart. "You promise one thing and do the other. Promise to stay until after breakfast but leave in the morning because what, you want to catch the first train to Seoul? _Bullshit,_ Baekhyun. You knew Sunyoung was going to prepare breakfast for us and you know how much that means to her because we've been away for so long–"

"But I returned, didn't I? I– If I didn't want to keep trying then I wouldn't have looked for you and–"

Kyungsoo gulps hard. You looked for me, he wants to ask, but the words are taking too long to surface from his throat, taking too long to spill from the corners of his lips. It makes sense now – Baekhyun hanging around in the Center a little longer than the usual before leaving Jeonju-si even when he's already earned his badge, Baekhyun appearing in Iksan-si out of the blue. Baekhyun always, always, always appearing out of nowhere during the most inopportune of times, catching Kyungsoo off-gaurd and leaving him defenseless.

Baekhyun stealing a piece of him everytime he slips out of bed in the morning without a word, without notice, without sound. And then thrusting a piece of himself in Kyungsoo's direction everytime they see each other again like they haven't just breathed each other in hours before.

"Why do you have to keep running?" Kyungsoo asks, breathing out in a huff. He tries to look up but the tips of his bangs keep pricking his irises, so he drops his gaze to Baekhyun's clasped hands, his shaking fingers. Lifts his gaze until he can see Baekhyun's lips trembling. He shivers when the wind blows, but then Baekhyun's also leaning in, brushing away the stray strands keeping their gazes from locking onto each other. So he returns the gesture, looks up and into Baekhyun's eyes now as he asks, "Why can't you just remain in one place and just... stay?

Baekhyun laughs a little. "Why do _you_ keep pushing me away? Or trying to, at least, because you never really push through with kicking me out of your life–"

"I asked first," Kyungsoo grumbles. " _Answer._ "

"Because–" Baekhyun's lips hang parted, words dangling from the jut of his bottom lip. It hasn't stopped trembling yet but Baekhyun's doesn't seem to mind, doesn't even trap his lip between his teeth to keep himself from shaking. He does brush the raindrops from his eyes, though, the ones that have caught on his eyelashes. They make his eyes sparkle. Kyungsoo... hasn't been staring, not the slightest. And his heart hasn't been racing in his chest even faster since they've pulled apart. "Because I'm scared?" Baekhyun says after a while, _confesses_ as he rushes the choked laughter that follows. "Because I still don't know what will happen to me if you do decide to get rid of me the way I tried to get rid of you? Because–" He shakes his head, laughing even harder this time like he can't believe himself, like he can't _believe_ they're doing this in the middle of a mission, in the pouring rain. Like he can't believe that it's Kyungsoo who's forcing the answers out of him now instead of it being the other way around. "Because I'm _scared,_ Kyungsoo, I've been scared all my fucking life and that time when I finally felt like I was strong enough to finally get a move on, you just had to gatecrash back into my life."

Kyungsoo laughs, faint and slow and choked because what else is there to do? What else is there to say? He asked a question and he got an answer. This is what he's always wanted, right, _reason_ behind everything that has been happening to him? A reason for Baekhyun being so eager to leave just as soon as he's arrived? A reason for Baekhyun deciding to stay beside him for more than a quick breath, but leaving just the same? A reason for wanting to know the 'why' at all when all these aren't even supposed to matter? And he can't stop laughing because in all the scenarios he's played out in his head, this was never one of them – Byun Baekhyun on his knees, gripping him by the hands and telling him, I've always been afraid, Soo, so afraid. And nothing scares me more than the thought that I'm capable of feeling this frightened, crippled to the core.

He’s not prepared for this, and neither is he prepared for the sharp, clawing pain in his chest, his fingers cooling so quickly where Baekhyun’s warm palms are pressed against his. He’s not prepared for _this_ , for the confrontation, to face the feelings he’s only ever acknowledged a number of times, all of them because he didn’t have a choice. Soojung kept looking at him like he was wearing his secrets on his sleeve. Sunyoung kept bugging him with questions. And Baekhyun’s grip on him keeps tightening, the thumping of Baekhyun's pulse on his skin growing even louder by the second.

"Say something," Baekhyun whispers after a while, _pleads_ when the silence becomes too much to bear. Kyungsoo snorts in response, winces when he kicks himself in his head because _you can't be this heartless, Kyungsoo. You can't be this cruel. You made him cry and you know you can make him smile again so do your fucking part._ "Kyungsoo, _please–_ "

"What," Kyungsoo begins, then looks at their intertwined fingers, wet and trembling under the pouring rain. What do you want me to tell you now, what will make you stop crying if you're crying at all, what the hell are you saying, but somehow these words don't feel right on his tongue. So instead, he breathes out again, tries this time, "What are you so afraid of?"

Baekhyun laughs, snorts, like it's crazy for Kyungsoo to even be asking that. Like Kyungsoo's too stupid to figure things out on his own. He isn't. He just doesn't like jumping to conclusions and landing on a misstep. He just doesn't want to get hurt.

"I'm scared of regretting things again," Baekhyun begins, pausing only to suck in a deep breath. Kyungsoo gulps hard. Baekhyun looks the same way he did ten years ago, close to the sea but not quite there yet, when he held Kyungsoo's hands in his and pulled him close for a soft, tentative kiss. He looks like ten-year-old Byun Baekhyun, about to leave the island, so uncertain about his own decisions and maybe about his feelings, as well. His hair sticks to his skin and raindrops make his eyes glimmer with water catching on his eyelashes but he's _beautiful._ Even with rain drawing lines of water along his cheeks, making his skin flush a little, he's beautiful. And his lips are trembling and he groaning at himself, at the words that keep slipping from his throat, at the situation. And then he's licking his lips open again, saying, "I'm scared of not doing something when I could've done everything to make things right. I'm scared of all the maybes, the what ifs, the could have beens–

"I'm scared of running away and coming back to nothing, nothing at all. I don't want that to do that again, Soo. It's scary, it's fucking scary." He shuts his eyes and takes a sharp, rattling breath, wind grazing his teeth as if filtering through the narrow gap between his lips. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun is done, that it's _his_ turn to speak, but soon Baekhyun's parting his lips then pressing them together then parting them again, as if summoning the right words to spill from corners of his mouth for one last time. 

"And I'm scared of losing myself to my all these... stupid fears again, scared of putting all my hard work to waste and returning to how I was all those years we spent apart.

"I'm scared of losing you, Soo," Baekhyun breathes out, voice so soft he could've been just whispering. A loud gulp, two loud thumps where Baekhyun has his thumbs pressed to Kyungsoo's skin, then, "I'm scared of losing _us._ "

That's stupid, Kyungsoo wants to say, wants to scream, but he's heard more foolish fears that that – I'm scared of losing fame and fortune, of losing my good name. Scared of losing a bet. Scared of losing a match because one loss will _ruin_ me. _He's_ scared of things that he can't change, and even those that he can. He's scared of change, itself. Routine makes him feel comfortable, reminds him on the peaceful waves around their little village and of always, always being able to land a good catch every morning near the bay area. Habit reminds him of home, and he doesn't have that anymore. He's far away from home. For months now, he's been traveling form one place to another to make someone else's dreams come true only because he doesn't know what he really wants to do yet. Become the greatest Pokemon trainer in the world? Catch 'em all? Discover new species of Pokemon or maybe create a medical breakthrough in the world of Pokemon science? The thrill of the challenge is there, ever present, wrapped around his neck in a tight, vicious grip and keeping him from breathing easily, but there's something missing. There _was_ something missing until Baekhyun challenged him for the first time in so long, back in Mokpo-si, when they'd just gotten their starter Pokemon from Professor Kwon.

 _You need him,_ comes a voice in his head. It sounds a lot like Sunyoung's.

 _I need him,_ another whispers. It sounds too familiar, like a small voice he's been trying to contain for so long. It sounds like him.

"I–" Kyungsoo begins, lips hanging parted in speech, but soon they hear an explosion, the sound of metal crashing against each other, muffled cries. Kyungsoo tears his gaze from Baekhyun, then, cranes his neck until he sees one the gates to the hideout fallen to the ground. He strains his hearing a little, leaning to his side but not quite pulling away yet, but he can feel Baekhyun's muscles shifting, can feel Baekhyun's grip weakening. And he can hear the faint yet long sigh spilling from Baekhyun's lips saying more than it should, even with Baekhyun muttering something about, "Stupid Rockets, do they even know what the meaning of inconspicuous is? If they really wanted to not be discovered then they should've just put those Pokemon attacking them to sleep instead of really fighting back–"

Kyungsoo gives the link of their hands a lazy tug, then looks to his side to meet Baekhyun's gaze. For a second, Baekhyun widens his eyes, but soon he's dropping his gaze elsewhere – the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose, the gentle swell of Kyungsoo's lips. The column of his neck then to the breadth of his shoulders where his shirt sticks to his skin now because of the unrelenting rain. Then Baekhyun's body gives a tiny jerk, and Kyungsoo uses that as his opening, tightening his hold on Baekhyun's because it's the only thing keeping them together now, in this moment. 

"We have to split up," he says, pausing to swallow around the thick lump of _something_ in his throat. Maybe those are the same words he's been trying to say for the past ten, fifteen minutes, but won't ever come. The same words that he's been rehearsing in his mind again and again for the past few months since he's seen Baekhyun again after being apart for a decade. "We can go in through the same entrance but after that we'll have to go separate ways so we can take down more Grunts in the shortest amount of time possible. We don't know how the place is, and the longer we stay there, the deeper grave we dig for ourselves –"

"I don't think we can take them down alone, Soo," Baekhyun mumbles. He cranes his neck, too, searching, and Kyungsoo only responds by trailing his gaze along the slope of Baekhyun's neck. "There must be _hundreds_ of them and we're not even sure how strong they are so we have to stick close by and help each other out and–"

If I stay close to you, I won't be able to breathe, Kyungsoo almost says. He doesn't. Instead, he lets out a long exhale and breathes out into the space between them as he says, "We can't waste time."

"We're going to die out there," Baekhyun argues. "Might as well die together, right?"

That's not the point, Kyungsoo wants to say, but then there's another set of explosions, this time closer to them. Just a few meters away, judging by the way the earth beneath them shakes and by the way the sound crawls under his skin and wraps around his neck, making him shiver. Baekhyun flinches, seethes. Kyungsoo only gulps hard but he can feel his thundering pulse in his palms, at the base of his throat, at the back of his knees, making him weak. Maybe the Rockets have spotted them already. Or maybe the Rockets are just trying to clear the area of any inhabitants, Pokemon and human alike, that might get in their way. Maybe he and Baekhyun are just _unlucky_ and this is life's way of telling them that drama time's up; back to reality, kiddos. So he grabs Baekhyun by the wrist, pulls both of them up until they're back on their feet and running away from the explosion, from where the Pokemon have begun crowding in on them, from harm. There's an entire world of danger out there waiting for them when they step inside the Rocket hideout but there's nothing that they can do – this is part of the contract they've unknowingly signed by accepting the responsibility of being Pokemon trainers. This is part of their mission. And _this_ is what they have to do not only to survive but so that others may live, as well.

"I'm not letting you go the other way," Baekhyun tells him through gritted teeth. He tugs at their still intertwined hands, slipping his hand up this time but wrapping his fingers tight around Kyungsoo's wrist. Tight, but not uncomfortable, just enough to Kyungsoo to feel the light burn of Baekhyun's touch. Just enough for tiny raindrops to still pass through the light link of their fingers, the fit of their hands. "And you still owe me an answer so I can't let you die. You can die trying to get rid of me but I'm _not_ about to let you underestimate the power of these Grunts–"

Kyungsoo laughs a little, but there's no denying the loud thumping in his chest. This isn't just like any of the gym battles he's gone through because these people have no consideration for other people and Pokemon's lives. These are heartless trainers, molded to become fighting machines. They will do everything to stop both him and Baekhyun and their Pokemon, even at the cost of their lives. But then–

"How many legendary Pokemon have we fought?"

Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows. "This is _not_ the time to be weird, Soo."

Kyungsoo shakes his head, courage coming to him in tiny bursts of laughter. "We've fended offlegendary Pokemon, took attacks from them _to our body_ but still survived. And they keep coming back to bug us but we're still standing, Baekhyun. We're still here. And we survived the war." He lets the corners of his lips lift at the corners. It feels a bit weird wearing a silly grin like this in the middle of an attack, but what else is there to do? He can't let his fears chain him to the ground anymore, to his past. It's been years since the war broke out and Gardevoir has already reached its final evolution and Kyungsoo _has to catch up._

And Baekhyun's trying to change. He's seen little success because old habits die so fucking hard, but at least he's trying. It's a start. It's progress.

Kyungsoo lets out a faint exhale, then continues. "Shouldn't that mean something?"

"That we're lucky? That we've got nine lives or something or maybe we're being protected by some... I dunno, some magic spell? An invisible force?" Baekhyun tries. He waves that off after a while and rolls his eyes. His muscles are stiff and he keeps looking into Kyungsoo's eyes then away and then meeting Kyungsoo's gaze again, like he can't decide if he should give in just yet. Kyungsoo gets that, the struggle between doing what you want and what you have to. The lines get blurred sometimes. So Baekhyun squints, leans closer, shifts his gaze to the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose, instead. "Look, I promise I won't get in your way but the moment we split up, there's a higher chance that we'll get pulverized by those Grunts–"

"I'm not running away, Baekhyun," Kyungsoo says, breathing out in a long exhale. Unlike you, a voice at the back of his mind comments, but he doesn't say that. Instead, he pushes that voice to the very back of his mind where the sound won't reach him. His throat still feels tight and dry and part of him just wants to shake the last dregs of fear off of Baekhyun's shoulders because they're dealing with something tangible here, something they can see and not just feel. Losing to these Grunts isn't something that they should be afraid of; it's being too afraid to take a chance at saving the world _on their own_ that they should fear. "And the mere fact that those legendary Pokemon keep seeking us out means that there's something special in–" In us, he almost says. He manages to bite that back, says instead, "you, in me. As trainers." He rubs the underside of his nose, then flicks some of the rainbows at the tip. "And it means there's something special in our Pokemon, as well. So we won't die so easily. Not by their hands, Baekhyun, not by a long mile. Team Rocket can't take us down just like that."

A loud gulp, then one of Baekhyun's cheeks hollows out like he's trying, trying really hard to keep himself from prying his lips further open for fear of saying the wrong things at the wrong time. And then Kyungsoo hears it, unfamiliar voices coming from all directions, the rain thinning into a sheet of faint noise, the light in the lamp post near by crackling, then going out. "You're not supposed to be here!" one of the Grunts says, so he pulls away from the link of their hands, drops both of his to his sides, takes a step back. Mouths at Baekhyun, _it's showtime_ , before feeling for the Pokeballs in his belt. Baekhyun reaches out for one last time, though, to give Kyungsoo's hand a squeeze, then he's chucking a Pokeball in the air, twisting his torso in time for him to see Pikachu from the capsule. He orders Pikachu to use Discharge, to stun all the foes in sight in a single attack, and Pikachu lets out a loud cry before looking up to the skies to summon a powerful bolt of lightning.

And then Baekhyun's glowing, charged with light from Pikachu's attack. And his eyes are glimmering in the light, and something loud and powerful claws at Kyungsoo's insides, in his chest, in his throat as he still struggles to find his words for a proper enunciation.

"I'll find you!" he calls out to Baekhyun.

Baekhyun looks at him over his shoulder with wide, wide eyes, and then he's grinning ear to ear, the corners of his mouth pulling up into he biggest, brightest smile. Kyungsoo allows himself three seconds of respite, then, and soon he's turning on his heel and making his way inside the hideout. A group of Grunts greets him, all armed with their Mightyena and their Houndoom and their Weavile, so he calls forth his Gardevoir at once, gripping his Pokemon by the arm tight as if saying, this might just be the biggest battle of your life. _Make it count._ Gardevoir extends its arms in response, then, its entire body aglow as it takes down one Pokemon after another, helping Kyungsoo reach deeper into the hideout and closer to root of the problem, the one thing that might end this new war they're drowning in. Later, he sends out his other Pokemon – Sableye to inflict Pokemon with burns and make it nigh impossible for them to damage Gardevoir, Pelipper to cover the enemies attacking from meters away. Sceptile just beside Gardevoir, standing tall in its fully evolved form and taking down Pokemon one by one, threatening even the Grunts and making them cower in fear. In fifteen minutes, he makes it to the heart of the hideout where the laboratories are. In fifteen minutes, Vibrava and Pelipper develop a battle plan that allows them to wear down their opponents so Gardevoir and Sceptile can finish them off in one move. And in fifteen minutes, Baekhyun takes out at least half of the Grunts at front and sends Kyungsoo a message through his PokeGear, one that says, _Don't die without me. Stay with me._

And it takes no less than a second, Kyungsoo muses as he inches closer to the labs, popping his head inside before taking another step forward, for him to answer the question Baekhyun had thrown his way earlier – _why do you have to push me away all the time? Why do you keep trying to? Why?_

To keep his emotions at bay, to stay in control. To keep Baekhyun from running away completely.

And for Baekhyun to unknowingly keep his promise of coming back.

↠

For all of Team Rocket's lack of knowledge at being inconspicuous, the hideout isn't as straightforward as you'd think it would be. There are too many levels, up and down, too many pathways that lead both everywhere and nowhere. Once, Kyungsoo made a wrong turn on the second floor and found himself back where he started – at the ground floor, around the block leading to the entrance. Or was it the exit? He couldn’t tell, not with how everything looked the same. He could still hear the screams, though, both of Pokemon and trainers alike, could still hear the sound of explosions just beyond the walls. If the Rockets were trying to hide from the world then then it was nigh impossible now, what with all the sound of crashing and flames outside. This was it, Kyungsoo thought then, the battle of the century. If he had to die fending off Team Rocket and trying to save the world then he wouldn't mind. He wouldn't mind at all.

He's still alive, though, but not unscathed. He has a few cuts on his cheeks and his arms and his legs, and almost all of his Pokemon are severely injured. He makes it to the basement two, though, and finds a small room with a recovery machine akin to that of the one in the Pokemon Center, albeit not as high-tech. "Is this pre-war or something," he mumbles to himself as he boots the system, then places an empty Pokeball in the container first just to test the machine. The machine roars to life, the bulbs on the sides lighting up one by one. "Or is this some kind of poaching machine that–"

The sirens sound off. He doesn't hear it at first, not when the machine gives off this loud beeping sound at the same time that the sirens do, but he _does_ feel it – crawling up his nape, wrapping around his neck in a vicious grip, knocking at the back of his head and knocking him back to his senses. His knees lock and his limbs freeze, but he manages to drop his gaze to the flashing light on his PokeGear – three notifications, two of them messages from Baekhyun and the other one a call from Professor Kwon. He still hasn't answered the first message he got from Baekhyun after they began to infiltrate the camp, but then how could he have snuck in some time to read messages? He's been shuffling from one room to another, battling all these Grunts left and right. The last one he faced was guarding the entrance to basement two; this is the first time he’s breaking away from a fight and setting aside time to treat the wounds of his Pokemon. The Gear gives off another flash of light, then a call comes in – the bright tone makes him wince a little.

It’s Professor Kwon.

"Hello, Kyungsoo? Kyung–" Professor Kwon's voice cracks, but maybe that's just the line chopping up. Her words sound too muffled against something, and for a moment Kyungsoo feels his throat tighten, feels his tongue go numb. He can still move his hands, though, so he grabs the Pokeballs one by one and slots them in the machine. He only has about a minute or two of respite before the Grunts go looking for him. He has to make full use of his time. "–and we've been trying to get in touch with Baekhyun but he isn't picking up–"

He takes a sharp breath and furrows his eyebrows. "We... split up at the entrance," he answers, speaking right into the receiver and cupping his free hand over it so that only the smallest of sounds can escape. For all he knows, there's a Rocket Grunt on the other side of the wall; he can't make too much noise. The machine gives off another sound, then beams of light shoot up from under the capsules. He watches as the health bar – it looks like a health bar, at least – beside each Pokeball slot glows from red to orange and then to a bright yellow, inch by inch until it reaches the other side of the bar and turns green. There's still nothing but static in the line again, then some of Professor Kwon's muffled words. He tries to peel the noise from the statements, though, tries to extract only the important words – can't track, no signal, not sure, _dead._ He gulps hard and shakes his head then adds, "Pretty sure he's still out there. I received two messages from him in the past thirty minutes–"

One last beeping sound, then the flashing lights turn off only to be replaced by the light in the room flickering before going out completely, filling the room with a thick sheet of black. "What did the messages say?" Professor Kwon asks, and Kyungsoo only answers with, "I wasn't able to check. I just know he's alive."

It's hard to use gut feeling as a foundation of reason but Professor Kwon buys it, anyway, hangs up but not before telling Kyungsoo to check the damned messages, give Baekhyun a call, stay safe and steer clear of trouble. Kyungsoo grunts in response and takes the Pokeballs back, slotting them in his belt one by one. He can feel one of them shaking, can feel one of them going too hot and almost burning his sides. "Gardevoir?" he whispers, then throws the Pokeball to the floor. Out comes Gardevoir from the thick cloud of smoke, but he can only make out the line of its figure, the glow in its eyes. He can't even see the white dress Gardevoir always wears with the thick sheet of darkness in front of them. It's almost as if life's preparing him for what is to come – navigating his way out of the eternal darkness, but ending up being locked up in a dark, dark cage. Feeling around for the knob but not quite making it to the exit.

Gardevoir lets out a high-pitched cry, then the room's glimmering in light. Just faint wisps, nothing that blinds Kyungsoo, but a bit of light is better than nothing. Dazzling Gleam, he notes – trust Gardevoir to use its powers outside of battle. Trust Gardevoir to use that as an excuse to get out of its Pokeball and breathe in a bigger, wider space.

Another buzz, then his PokeGear is lighting up again. Vibrations on his skin, then the Gear is giving off the loudest, shrillest sound. He drops his gaze to the Gear, then, and spots an unknown ID – no ID _at all,_ in fact, just text on the screen that says someone's calling, please answer the call at once, _please._ He hits the green phone button and presses the Gear close to his ear, but turns down the volume even before he can catch the first hint of life on the other end of the line.

"–soo?" comes the voice, choppy and crackling and croaked. It's familiar. Too familiar, in fact, that the next thing he hears is a string words and memories that the caller isn't even saying right now. A glimpse of three kids running along the shore, then tumbling in the sand soon after. An image of a kid pushing the other deeper into the sand then collapsing on top of him in a heap of limbs and laughter. An image of the same kids toeing the line between solid ground and the beach, one of them reaching out for the other's hands and pressing them close to his chest. Then an image of two boys kissing, one pressing closer and the one leaning in yet also pulling away in equal parts.

He leans closer to the Gear and takes a deep breath, holding in all the air in his lungs in his chest, left and center where he feels the thumping the loudest. "Hey, are you– I lost my Gear to some dude using Flamethrower on my arm so now I'm just–" Baekhyun says on the other side of the line. The line is still choppy. Kyungsoo gulps down hard, trying to accommodate and hear better. _Ow!_ "

"Careful," he replies, breathing out as he rests his head on the door. He can feel the violent upward tug at the corners of his lips, can feel his pulse at the back of his ears, but he doesn't give in to those yet. Instead, he takes a deep breath, then twists the knob and swings it open _just a bit._ He peeks from the narrow gap, looks at all directions, then steps out of the room. Reaches for the plug of the healing machine and tugs at it before shutting the door behind him, as well, in a last ditch effort to wipe his tracks clean. " _Thank God_ you're alive," he mutters when he gets out, picking up where he'd left off with Gardevoir following him just a few inches away and shooting out thin wisps of pink aura everywhere they go. It isn't the first time the Pokemon has done it – as a Ralts, Gardevoir always made it a point to leave pieces of itself, its _power_ on the field so it can spring attacks at the opponent whenever it wants to. "Professor Kwon's been trying to track you but since your Gear's busted, it makes sense that you're not on the radar–"

Baekhyun chuckles. Laughs, and then he's screaming into the receiver again and calling out an attack to– Altaria? His Swalbu has evolved into an Altaria? Kyungsoo's not surprised at all. The Rocket hideout is filled with trainers who use dark-type Pokemon, some even fighting-types, and who would know better about type advantage than Baekhyun? Baekhyun likes that, having diversity in his team, having one of each type and covering each oh his Pokemon's weaknesses with the other members of the party while still keeping his roster fresh, far from the conventional picks. Who even uses a Ludicolo these days, or a Swablu? Who even teaches his Mudkip non-contact attacks even if he knows very well that Mudkip dishes out physical damage better than it does the special types? "You're really cute when you actually don't pretend that you don't care, y'know?" Baekhyun says after a while, after making his Altaria attack using Moonblast. His voice lilts, cracks again, but maybe that's just the shitty phone line at work. Or maybe it's just all the hopping and ducking and calling out attacks under his breath while keeping his Gear pressed to his ear messing up with Kyungsoo's hearing. "You should do that more. I like it."

Kyungsoo gulps down hard, shivers all over when he feels a flush of heat crawl up his neck, settling on his cheeks. "Thanks, but no thanks," he mumbles under his breath, then leans back against the wall when he sees a huge ball of purple hurtling in his direction. "Gardevoir, return! Vibrava, use Bulldoze on the _what the hell are those–_ "

More explosion on the other side and Baekhyun switching Altaria out for his Camerupt, then, "Shadowy things?"

Kyungsoo squints hard. There _are_ shadows on the floor, yes, but it's becoming even harder to see anything clearly with the thickening smoke around him. Another one of Team Rocket's clever ideas. He hears a distant cry in the background, though, syllables that he's able to make out despite the noise. "Koffing, I think these are Koffing–" To Vibrava, he says, "Use Rock Slide, instead!"

"Good call," he hears Baekhyun say on the other end of the line. Or at least that's what he thinks he heard, because the next thing he knows three Grunts are assaulting him from three different directions. For a moment, he thinks of telling Baekhyun he'll call him back, hold up for a second, I just have Grunts to deal with, but Baekhyun cuts him off and tells him to, "Stay on the line. Just so we know we're both alive–" Soon, there are more explosions on Baekhyun's side of the line, so Kyungsoo questions him no more, just presses on with his battle and sends out the Pokemon in the capsule shaking in his belt.

"Careful, Vulpix!" he calls out, grabbing the Pokemon and holding it close to his chest when another Grunt – they just keep coming – sends out a Weezing and orders the Pokemon to use Sludge Wave. "Rock Slide on the floor, Vibrava, keep piling up the rocks _and then_ use Bulldoze on the wall!"

Vibrava looks over its shoulder for the briefest moment, then smiles. And then it's a series of boulders falling to the ground, with Vibrava conjuring boulders with the quick fluttering of its wings and sending the rocks crashing to the other side with the force of its Bulldoze attack. Kyungsoo keeps his eyes trained on his Pokemon, looks to his sides and behind him only when he hears Vulpix letting out a low cry. The sound peaks, makes him shiver a little, but when he tears his gaze from Vibrava he finds Vulpix tackling one Purrloin to the ground after another, biting them on the neck, pushing them away with the forceful brush of its tail. Its eyes glow the brightest shade of red as it opens its mouth wide, releasing a thick stream of fire. Kyungsoo sucks in a rattling breath when he feels the heat prickle his skin, inches away a little when the air becomes dry and thick and his throat feels too tight to breathe.

And he squints hard when just opening his eyes becomes too much of a chore. He holds a hand up between him and the blinding light, but to no avail – the light from Vulpix's flames and Vibrava's body are just too strong that the only option left for him is to shut his– "Wait," he mutters, widening his eyes when he shifts his attention to Vibrava, and that's when he pieces everything together – the radiating heat, the light that rivals that of Vulpix's fire-type attacks. The loud cry from the other side of the room slowly melting into something bigger, bolder, deeper but just as loud. Vibrava being cloaked in a thick blanket of light, then dispelling the same glow to emerge a new Pokemon, stronger than before. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, balls his hands into tight fists as he watches his Pokemon take on a new form right in front of him – the little tail it once has grown into something longer, and its wings are bigger, sturdier than before, making it possible for the Pokemon to stay in the air for a longer period of time. The newly-evolved Pokemon circles Kyungsoo, hovering for a moment, and that's when he breathes out – when he sees his Pokemon rushing to where the Weezing are, when he sees his Pokemon landing back on the ground and letting out a faint cry that sounds a lot like bright laughter.

He feels something wound itself around his ankle, and when he looks down he finds Vulpix nudging his leg with its nose and cocking its head in the direction of its fallen opponents. So he scoops Vulpix in his arms and carries it to where Vibrava – no, _Flygon_ – is, reaching out to give Flygon a pat on the head and to whisper in the faintest voice he can muster, "Hey there, Flygon."

"What, is it international Evolution Day?" comes Baekhyun's voice from the other end of the line. Kyungsoo shakes his head in response, rolls his eyes, _laughs_ because what else is there to do? Baekhyun's kilometers away and he's deep into the Rocket hideout and, second to hearing Baekhyun's voice again after hearing _nothing_ but destruction all around him, this is the best thing that has happened to him all day. It feels like breathing in deep and feeling fresh air fill your lungs, feels a lot like being reborn. And when Baekhyun starts laughing he feels a familiar sizzle crawl down his abdomen and set off explosions at the tips of his fingers, his toes, pricking that tiny vessel of hope inside him and letting the sensation spill all over his skin.

"Maybe," he whispers, breathless as Flygon nuzzles his cheek and almost sends him toppling to the ground. He closes his eyes for the briefest moment, taking in the image of Baekhyun losing it, drowning in a fit of laughter, his pretty smile reaching the corners if his eyes and crinking them, then repeats, "Yeah. Maybe it is."

It takes another fifteen minutes to clear the second basement and find the tunnel leading to the third, and then the stairs down to the lowest level. Baekhyun had told him earlier that he was on his way to basement number one, figuring out which passageway to slip into and double-checking the corridors for those tiny packets of power that Gardevoir had been dropping to the floor earlier. Kept him on the line for a few more minutes until reception got really bad because they were both venturing too deep into the hideout already and deeper underground. "I'll find you," Baekhyun said before dropping the call, made a sloppy kissing sound to boot, and Kyungsoo only responded with a low grunt and equally low laughter. He'd tell Baekhyun off if he had the energy to, but they've been battling too many Grunts for close to an hour and a half already. Professor Kwon had already asked Minseok and Gangneung-si's gym leader to send some people from the police to secure the perimeter of the hideout and to make sure that none of the Grunts escape. He'd only faced some ten, fifteen Grunts on his way to the last flight of stairs and that's saying a lot, considering he had to take on three at a time everytime he made even the slightest movement. And he's pounding on his chest now as he tries to catch his breath, as he tries to still the racing in his chest and get a better sense of where he is.

The ground shakes, stills, then shakes again. He clutches at his knees in an attempt to – steady himself? To catch his breath? To try to push himself a bit more because the weird metal door thing is just a few more steps away? He can't tell. He's been running and walking for so long that he almost can't feel his feet anymore, and the constant tremors make it even more difficult to walk easily down the corridors. The constant tremors almost make it feel as if he's wrapped in trouble right now, with the promise of another mini quake happening just around the corner.

"Dammit," he says through gritted teeth, slamming his fist into the wall when the shaking becomes even more powerful. Wrong move, though, because dust falls from the ceiling and catches on the jut of his lips and sticks there, even after he's blown at it hard already. He only ever succeeds in falling on his knees and trying to crawl over to where the door is, running his thumb through the number pad. There's a narrow gap between the panels of metal, though, just enough for him to peer inside and catch a glimpse of tubes, machines, weapons of all shapes and sizes and–

"Fuck–" His breath hitches when his eyes fix on three cages, all of them housing a Pokemon inside. Too familiar, a voice at the back of his mind says as he squints harder to get a clearer image of the Pokemon, as he tries to swing the door forward but only ends up drawing a dent on the hot metal even after pouring all his strength into that one hard push. He can't be mistaken – that's Tornadus on the left, then Thundurus on the right. Landorus is at the middle, crouching on all fours, but– "This isn't their normal form," he mutters under his breath. The thick clouds keeping the legendary genies afloat have now dissipated, with only traces of them wrapped around the trio's ankles, wrists, the part where Tornadus' tail and the rest of its body meet. And even as Tornadus and Thundurus keep slamming their body into the railings of the cage, even as they try to escape the trap but only end up getting electrocuted with each contact, the wounds on their bodies keep healing.

Landorus lets out a loud roar, and the ground starts shaking again. "I told you to be nice, Landorus, didn't I?" comes a voice from inside, and Kyungsoo shivers in thoughtless response. It doesn't sound eerie, the voice, doesn't even sound like one of those classic villains you hear on the radio or on television, but something about the lilt of the person's voice punches him in the gut and makes him taste metal and blood in his mouth. "I didn't give you back some of your power for you to turn your back on me like this. That's just rude."

A pause, a hiccup, then the man chuckles. "And you know what happens to rude Pokemon?"

Landorus groans a second time, and the ground shakes again. Kyungsoo fastens both of his hands to the floor, then, presses hard when he feels the aftershocks of the quake rattle the rubble beneath him. And he leans even closer, trying to get a glimpse of the face of the person in a long, black trench coat walking to where Landorus is. He can't see much, what with the man having his back turned in Kyungsoo's direction, but he can make out the sharp angles of the man's cheeks, the peculiar curl of his lips. The crinkles at the corners of his eyes when he says, "They get _punished_ until they apologize for what they've done."

The man throws a Pokeball into the air and out comes Luxray, bursting from the cloud of white. It doesn't look like the usual Luxray, though isn't wearing the same dark blue fur that most Luxray do, or the same bright blue coat on the underside of its belly. Instead, its ears as well as its ankles are gold, and the star at the tip of its tail is wearing the same color. And it emerges from the capsule with a glimmer about it, a ring of light that makes it look as if Luxray isn't just coming out of a Pokeball; it's as if it's descending from the heavens to sentence unrelenting Pokemon to their untimely demise.

Kyungsoo tucks his chin when he feels the ground shake another time, when he feels the floor beneath him move at the same time that he sees Landorus thrash in its cage. "I told you, _play nice,_ " the man says again, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows he’s seeing the bars of the cage drop to the ground, hearing the sound of metal crashing against the floor. And then Landorus lets out a sharp, shrill cry when Luxray lunges forward and bites it on the neck. He winces the moment he sees Landorus close its eyes and throw its head back in an attempt shake Luxray off, balls his hands into fists when Luxray shifts to bite Landorus' forelegs, hind legs, its tail that even freezes as soon as Luxray sinks its teeth into the brown flesh. And he slams his right hand into the ground because what else can he do? If he bursts in now, the man might make Luxray attack his own Pokemon, already damaged from the many battles he had to go through just to get to the bottom-most floor of the hideout. After that, Luxray can just go back to finishing its business with Landorus. Or maybe the man will send out a different Pokemon to deal with Kyungsoo's party of six – that isn't far off. Almost all trainers carry a full party of six, after all. If he stays here, just stays here and does _nothing,_ Luxray will keep attacking Landorus. Someone will always get hurt, whether or not Kyungsoo does something.

Even if he does decide to blast these doors open, there's no telling if he'll succeed in fending off the man, his Pokemon, and save the three legendary genies trapped inside. There is no winning in this situation; there’s just trying one’s best and trying hard.

He shifts his gaze to his bloody fist for a moment, then looks back up at Landorus. He can see Landorus' eyes giving out, can see its knees shaking, can see a hint of surprise and the _warning_ in Landorus' eyes when their gazes lock. Landorus shakes its head in a slow, slow manner as if saying, get out now while you still can. This is not your battle to fight. _Get the fuck out now–_

Thundurus manages to break free from its own cage and begins to gather a bright ball of energy right in front of itself. It's getting even bigger now, about eight inches in diameter compared to the tiny ball of light that it once was when it Thundurus had just raised its hands in front of its chest. And then Thundurus is firing it off in Luxray's direction, one solid sphere of light after another that sends Luxray falling flat on its side to the ground. Part of Kyungsoo wants to reach out to tell the Luxray that it's alright, one should never listen to trainers as wicked and as evil as this guy, wants to just scoop Luxray in his arms and pull the Pokemon further away from the cruel trainer _and then_ save the three genies, but too late – the man's asking Luxray to fight back, to use Ice Fang on Landorus, to keep going until Landorus has been reduced to, "A whimpering mess, repentant after having learned its lesson," the man says, voice lilting as he sways from side to side. "Come on, Luxray, get up! I said, _get up!_ "

"Sick," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. Landorus hasn't shifted its gaze yet, still has its eyes fixed on nothing, no one else but Kyungsoo even if it's already fallen to the ground and its body is weakening. The Pokemon is shaking head now, though, enduring each and every vicious bite that Luxray lands on the legendary genie's body, as if reminding Kyungsoo of the deal they've entered into earlier, but– _Who the hell cares,_ Kyungsoo thinks. He can't just sit there and watch the genie be subjected to the pain it's experiencing now. He can't just _allow_ that cruel person who doesn't even deserve to be called a 'trainer' to just keep pushing his Pokemon to the pits of evil. So he pushes himself up, back on his feet, and grips on the of the Pokeballs in his belt. If has to die right here, right now, then he'll do so trying to save Landorus' life. He has no regrets.

Landorus shakes its head another time, then lets out a loud cry enough to shake up the ground one more time and send Kyungsoo falling back to his knees. Why won't you let me help you, he wants to ask Landorus, why won't you let me _fight for you–_ But he doesn't get to speak, doesn't even get to let out a faint gasp when the man turns to look in his direction, tilting his head to the side and squinting to see through the narrow gap between the metal panels.

"Oh, we have a visitor," comes another voice, deeper, richer this time. This one's more familiar, like Kyungsoo has heard it on the radio or maybe on television. And he's taller, too, Kyungsoo notes when the man shifts in his position before inching closer to the door, shielding the Luxray trainer from Kyungsoo's view. For a second, Kyungsoo thinks of ducking, hiding, of moving away, but what good will that do? If he's already trapped here then he might as well try to do something right. He might as well attempt to take down both trainers and try to save the genies’ lives at the expense of his own. "He's alone, though. I wouldn't want to toy with a defenseless little kid."

"Not a kid," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. He grips another Pokeball in his hand, then, and keeps his eyes on the narrow gap slowly being covered in darkness, as the footsteps headed in his direction grow louder, _heavier_ with each passing second. "And definitely not as bad as you two are–"

"Camerupt, use Heat Wave to melt the doors!" he hears someone call out from behind in a voice so loud that he feels his body jerk in thoughtless response. He doesn't need to look over his shoulder to know who it is, doesn't even need to close his eyes to scan his brain for a sliver of memory of that bright, distinct tone. This one, he knows by the heart – the lilt of the voice means 'it's showtime', the crack means 'I'm not quite sure what I'm doing but _why the hell not._ ' The loud and heavy breathing means he's desperate but he's not quite given up yet, and faint sound of his voice saying Kyungsoo's name like a little prayer means he's asking for help, he can't do this alone, _I won't let you go the opposite way and just watch you die, stupid–_ "And Altaria, Moonblast on the door, now! Give it all you've got!"

Kyungsoo feels a violent breath of life rush back to his lungs. He widens his eyes then nods, sending out his Vulpix to help Camerupt with melting the doors using its Fire Blast attack and calls forth Gardevoir to use Dazzling Gleam through the narrow slit of the door. The man closest to the door stutters back in his steps, jerks away from the opening, but soon he's sending out a Pokemon of his own – is that Infernape? Kyungsoo can't see through the thick tongues of flame licking the metal panels. "If you want so much to melt the doors down then _fine!_ " the man calls out, ending with maniacal laughter, and Kyungsoo feels a wave of cold slither up his nape, yanking him back by the hair and keeping him from swallowing around the thick lump of _something_ in his throat. "Come, join the party! Get yourselves fucking killed, stupid kids!"

Kyungsoo catches the sight of Infernape's body glowing though the widening gap of the door. Soon, Internape is running towards the door, its entire body cloaked in flames and a wicked smile on its lips. Flare Blitz, his mind registers – the trainer hasn't even call out the attack yet Infernape already knows exactly what to do, knows what its trainer has been thinking of ordering it to do. So this can't be a Pokemon that this Rocket trainer just poached from defenseless trainers on the street. This kind of bond isn't something you form over a week or two, or even for months. It takes years of moving around each other, of studying each other to know what your trainer is thinking even before he says it and how to bring out the best in your Pokemon.

Behind him, Baekhyun stifles a snort. "He's crazy," he mutters, just loud enough for Kyungsoo to hear. His eyes are still fixed on Altraia, though, who has stopped aiming attacks at the gap but hasn't stopped focusing its energy onto a single ball of light. "Who even wastes that much power on an attack that won't even make contact with a _Pokemon?_ "

Crazy, but a good trainer to his Pokemon, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. He shakes his head, purses his lips. Throws a glance in Baekhyun's direction and says, "Stay away from the doors. If he's smart then he'll know exactly how to counter our fairies."

"There's nothing that Luxray and Infernape can learn even through the toughest of trainings that can hurt our Pokemon, Soo," Baekhyun says, scoffing. He shakes his head in Altaria's direction, though, tells Camerupt to inch forward but not too closer to the door. _Just a bit more– Alright, that's good._ "I may not have damage calcs memorized by heart but I _do_ know a thing or two about type coverage," he rushes. "Sometimes even more than you do."

"I know, but–" Kyungsoo shakes his head. He catches the playful note in Baekhyun's tone, zones in on that small upward curl at the corners of Baekhyun's lips, but files that for later, when they actually have to sit around and think of something else other than fighting crime and taking down 'the bad guys.' He extends one hand in Baekhyun's direction, gesturing at Altaria to inch further away from where Infernape is still burning in the brightest shade of orange, then reaches over for his Gardevoir's hand to pull it away from the flames. "They wouldn't have captured the genies if they didn't have all sorts of tricks up their sleeve." He takes a deep breath as the smoke clears, and Landorus lets out another loud cry, making the ground beneath them shake. "They wouldn't have been able to contain them here for so long."

Baekhyun lets out a loud exhale. "Seems like they have the Reveal Glass with them. Wouldn't have been that hard."

"The glass makes the genies _stronger;_ it doesn't tame them," Kyungsoo groans. Baekhyun holds his hands up in Kyungsoo's direction in response, as if in defense, then scowls when a wild tongue of flame almost reaches where they are, only three feet away from Infernape and its trainer. "So if they were able to at least chuck a Pokeball at them without the genies trying to harm them first–"

"D'you think they used other legendaries?" Baekhyun asks.

Kyungsoo snatches a glance at Baekhyun, then instructs his Vulpix to use Extrasensory to build a protective shield between them and the Rockets. _The thing about legendaries,_ he remembers Professor Kwon telling them one time, _is that you can use them in battle only by taming them. You want to keep them in your party? That's not right. You're only asking for trouble and another world war. Remember: they’re guardians of _forces._ Capturing even just of them will result in imbalance. But tame them and earn their trust and you won't have any trouble asking them to battle on your behalf._

"But professor, how _do you_ tame legendaries?" Baekhyun had asked that time, lips pursed and bottom lip jutted out. He was still wearing his hair long then, tied up to a messy pony tail that Sunyoung loved tugging at. Kyungsoo would braid Baekhyu's hair after doing Sunyoung's. They were still kids then, barely eight years old but already too eager to learn everything that they could to become the best Pokemon trainers the world would ever know. Kyungsoo laughs a little at the thought now. "Do you have to be... super powerful or something? To earn their respect?"

"Oooh, respect," Sunyoung crooned. "Big word."

"Shut up," Baekhyun retorted, tugging at Sunyoung's pig tails.

" _You_ shut up!" she fought back, then started slapping him on his arm.

They never got an answer. Until now, Kyungsoo doesn’t have the slightest idea of how to 'capture' legendary Pokemon without containing them in a Pokeball and journeying with them from one place to another. If being approached by the Swords of Justice is anything to go by, though, not harming Pokemon might be one of the factors but what else? He only has three badges to boast of, has a good winning streak against wild Pokemon and rookie trainers he's met along the way; other than that, there's nothing, nothing in the way he throws a Pokeball at all, that can tell a legendary Pokemon that hey, this is a trainer you can trust. If you must absolutely lend your powers to someone, let it be this trainer. _Please let it be me._

"If you can't earn respect, then strike fear upon everyone," he whispers under his breath. He looks to his side, meeting Baekhyun's gaze for the quickest second, then he's facing front again and watching the scene in front of him unfold. Infernape has its hands on its knees, gripping them tight, but its eyes are on fire. And its trainer's hair is even brighter than before. The corners of his lips are tugged up in a violent grin and the electric-type trainer right behind him is wearing a smile just as maniacal, just as wicked that Kyungsoo feels his insides turn. Maybe Baekhyun can feel it, too, because Kyungsoo hears Baekhyun seething a few feet away, sees him shudder just before the Luxray trainer's laughter trails off into silence. "Think a whole party of six versus one–"

"Unheard of," Baekhyun mutters. A loud gulp, then, "Unfair. _Cruel._ " When Infernape begins to crack its neck and bare its teeth at Altaria, Baekhyun grimaces. "Camerupt, protect Altaria _at all costs._ "

"You think they care about being nice to Pokemon that aren't theirs?"

"I'd imagine they'd want to earn the legendaries' trust so that they can bring out their fullest potential–"

" _Wrong,_ " the taller man says, humming and chuckling before inching closer to where Baekhyun is. Kyungsoo jerks back a little, _flinches,_ because up close the man looks strangely familiar. He’s definitely seen this person before _somewhere_ but, with the mask he’s wearing covering the upper half of his face, identifying the man’s become a bit more difficult than it should. The man’s gaze and that grin stretched across his lips _feels_ a bit like deja vu, definitely, but other than that there’s nothing, nothing at all, that Kyungsoo connect with the events in the recent past where he could have met this guy. Three, four weeks ago, maybe? Possibly even more recent? He can’t tell at the moment. All he’s certain of is that just looking at this man makes his insides turn, makes his knees shake, makes the soles of his feet feel a bit too sore like he still hasn’t gotten rid of the tremors of the earthquake from weeks back.

The Infernape trainer stops just before the tips of his shoes touch Baekhyun’s own, just before Camerupt growls at the tall trainer and puffs out tiny balls of flame. "Aww, your Camerupt's really cute. Acting all protective of its trainer, huh? You must have – how did you phrase that again? – earned its trust to be able to _bring out its fullest potential?_ "

"Don't steal my lines," Baekhyun says through gritted teeth.

The fire-type trainer laughs. The sound is bright, loud, curls at the base of Kyungsoo's nape and grips him tight by the neck until his chest is tightening again. " _Make me._ "

Camerupt is the first to launch an attack, letting out a loud cry before firing off a stream of flames in Infernape's direction. Altaria flies closer to where Luxray is and begins to assault it with a Moonblast attack, but Luxray softens the blow by summoning a thick shield of light and having some of the light from the attack bounce off in Altaria's direction. Kyungsoo calls Vulpix back, then, makes the little fox return to its capsule in exchange for Sableye. "Will-o-Wisp on the Luxray, now!" he instructs the Pokemon, and Sableye only lets out soft laughter in response, in acknowledgement before running in Luxray's direction, disappearing just before it makes contact with the electric-type only to resurface from behind to fire off the attack.

"Defense is the best kind of offense, I see," says the electric-type trainer, voice lilting and the corners of his lips curling further up like his Pokemon hadn't just gotten burned after taking the attack from Sableye. The man tilts his head to the side, sizing up Kyungsoo with a careful stare, and then he's laughing, reaching out to Kyungsoo with a peal of laughter that only makes Kyungsoo shiver all over. "The complete opposite of your friend over there?"

"Hey, no comparing of styles!" Baekhyun calls out before leaping to catch his Altaria that Infernape sends crashing to the wall with a Poison Jab. He lets out a loud groan, screams when his back makes contact with the thick wall just behind him. Kyungsoo gulps down hard and curls in his fingers in response. "He can do hyperoffense, as well! He's just too lazy to do that right now!"

The electric-type trainer snorts. "Is it because you think I'm _undeserving?_ " he asks, then pulls up at the left sleeve of his shirt. Kyungsoo jerks back a little at the sight, when he sees the brace fastened to the man's arm and the metal bands keeping both the brace and the Pokeballs in place. He can see the veins drawn along the man's skin, as well, too green and too bright that he fears one wrong move from that man might make a single vein pop without preamble. It makes his teeth chatter for a second, just the quickest second, because soon he's jumping back by a step and telling Sableye to be prepared to take an attack. He can hear his voice shaking, though. Not the best way to call out an attack. _Great going, little Do–_ "I guess I'll just have to work hard enough to draw that out of you, then–"

–and Kyungsoo would have listened to whatever else the man had to say, but part of him is trying to reach out to Gardevoir, trying to tell his Pokemon to go inside, try to free the legendary genies from the cages and convince them to help him and Baekhyun fend off these cruel trainers. Gardevoir's too caught up attacking the electric-type trainer's Eelektross, though, after Camerupt's Earth Power wasn’t able to connect with the opposing Pokemon because of its ability to lift itself off the ground and dodge ground-type attacks. So Kyungsoo makes the most out of the situation, simply tells Sableye to alternate between using Shadow Sneak and Foul Play to whittle down Luxray's health until it faints to the nasty burn. Alternates between watching Sableye and Gardevoir and _Baekhyun_ as Altaria finally takes down the Infernape but ends up falling to the ground.

The ground gives another shake, more powerful this time as Camerupt summons a powerful Earth Power attack and launches it at the Luxray. He sees Baekhyun fall to his knees just a few feet away, hears Baekhyun seethe when Altaria hits him with one of its wings and lets out a soft cry right in his ear. "Silly cotton ball. Told you not to push yourself too hard," he hears Baekhyun whisper, but Baekhyun's actions betray him. He's running his hand along the stretch of Altaria's body, giving the tuft of cotton on its head a light fluff, and then he's burying his face in the cotton wrapped around Altaria's body. And he's chucking another Pokeball in the air, summoning Pikachu. "Iron Tail on that Eelektross, now!"

Kyungsoo stares. It's rude, he knows it. The shiver crawling up his nape and wrapping around his neck his tell him exactly that. And the voices at the back of his mind keep telling him to look away, but the way Baekhyun is cradling Altaria in his arms while directing Pikachu's attacks – "Dodge, Pikachu, come on– _Alright,_ now you've got it! Keep attacking that Eelektross, come on!" – just... leaves Kyungsoo with just a sliver of breath to hold on to and a heavy chest. His throat tightens, constricts around the words he could be saying – half of your body's crushed under your Pokemon, Baekhyun. _At least_ try to take care of yourself. _Let me take care of you._ He swallows them all, though, looks in Sableye's direction as he says, "Help Pikachu out. Will-o-Wisp onto the Eelektross!" Sableye dashes off without another word and creeps up from behind the levitating Pokemon, then launches the attack as it appears from Eelektross' own shadow. Darkness, that's what Sableye thrives on, the same thing that Sableye draws its power from as it attacks using Shadow Sneak and lands one hit on the Eelektross after another.

"Hey," Baekhyun says, then chucks a pebble in Kyungsoo's direction when Kyungsoo doesn't even stir. In front of them, their Pokemon are still battling for a chance to save the legendary genies on the other side of the door, and here they are – just a breath away, pushed apart by circumstance, by the roles they have to assume, by who they are. Kyungsoo groans in response then looks to his side, meeting Baekhyun's gaze, and _shit_ , there it is again, the burgeoning weight in his chest. Words upon words getting trapped between the walls of his throat. Baekhyun reeling him in with a small smile, a soft voice, a gentle bite on his bottom lip as he says, "Thanks. For the save."

"Pokemon of the same type hardly do much damage to each other. No big deal," Kyungsoo answers, _mumbles._ He can't even hear himself above the loud thumping in his chest, Eeletross' cries in the distance, the thundering crackle of lightning as Eelektross tries to attack Pikachu with a Thunderbolt. Pikachu only ends up absorbing the attack and bouncing back looking much stronger, much more eager to battle, though, only ends up launching another attack at Eelektross and sends the Pokemon hurtling to the ground. Sableye cackles; beside it, Pikachu puts its hands on its waist and looks over its shoulder, grinning at Baekhyun like it has just won the Pokemon League.

Baekhyun chuckles. Laughs, bright and shrill, then clasps his hands over his mouth like he isn't accustomed to happiness anymore, what with the war sucking every ounce of joy in his body already. But then happiness drives the evil away, scares people like these cruel trainers because happy people are people without fears and apprehensions. Happy trainers will be able to assess situations with a clear mind and make sound decisions. Happy trainers _always win._ Only those who make the mistake of jumping right into a battle wearing nothing but fear and uncertainty on their sleeves lose every fight they get into.

And only those who find a tiny vessel of strength inside them in the midst of all the fear in their heart can ever fight back from an unfortunate situation, down by three Pokemon versus the four that the opponent still has in the second match of a best of three tournament.

"C'mon, it's not that hard," Baekhyun singsongs. He nudges Kyungsoo's shoe with his foot, or at least he tries to reach for it to the best of his ability. His pants are torn; his ankles, bruised. Yet the smile on his lips shines through. "Come on, _say it._ "

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, cocks his head to the right when Baekhyun snatches a glimpse at Pikachu but draws his attention back to Kyungsoo soon after. He isn't backing down from _this_ battle just yet, isn't pulling away, so Kyungsoo says in a voice so soft he could've just been breathing, "You're welcome."

"See? That wasn't so hard," Baekhyun says, voice lilting. He then recalls his Altaria back to its capsule. The smile on his lips keeps growing, _glowing._ Then he's pushing himself off the floor, trying his best to get back on his feet but only ends up landing on his ass, the pressure of his palms against the floor not helping him at the very slightest. "Okay, this is hard–"

"Lemme–" Kyungsoo walks over, then snakes a hand across Baekhyun's back. For a moment, he _thinks_ he feels Baekhyun's muscles tense against his own, in the tight press of their bodies, but soon Baekhyun's relaxing, leaning into the touch, giving in. "Careful now, and– Okay, that's it–" he whispers, then, just faint bursts of sound as he helps Baekhyun get back to his feet.

Out of the corner of his eye, he can see the electric-type trainer scramble to where Luxray is, mumbling something about meddling kids and troublesome Pokemon and _there's no electric-type I can't contain–_ The fire-type trainer's... nowhere to be found, but his Infernape is still lying on the floor. Part of Kyungsoo wonders how the trainer can just _leave_ his Infernape there without even taking it somewhere safer when their synchronization earlier was off the charts, but circumstance gives him no time to think. The next thing he knows, Eelektross is letting out a loud cry and he can feel the ground beneath them shake again. He cranes his neck, then, trying to see through the thickening cloud of smoke, but– "Can't be Landorus' doing," Baekhyun mutters under his breath, grunting between syllables as he struggles to drag his left foot. And then Eelektross is skidding at least three feet from where it landed on the floor after taking a powerful combination of Shadow Sneak and Iron Tail from Sableye and Pikachu. It hits the wall then bounces off of it, stopping just a few feet shy of its own trainer's feet.

"Kids these days are so _rude!_ " the electric-type trainer cries out, his voice cracking as it peaks. The mask he’s wearing folds near the corners of his mouth as he sort of smiles, sort of scowls – Kyungsoo can’t tell at the moment. Then the trainer’s screaming out, "You're going to pay for this!" Kyungsoo shivers, stutters in his his steps for a moment, but _no, Kyungsoo, don't give in,_ he tells himself. _Your Pokemon need you right now. Baekhyun needs you._ He cranes his neck, then, trying to meet Sableye's gaze, and gives his Pokemon a swift nod before trying to hold Baekhyun up, before trying to drag the messy tangle of their limbs a few more steps forward. Sableye disappears in a blink of an eye and reappears right behind the trainer, launching a headbutt to the trainer's nape, but– _Too quick,_ a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says as the trainer looks over his shoulder, as the trainer scoffs, laughs, _sneers._ As the trainer grabs Sableye by the neck and slams it to the floor, making Sableye let out a strangled cry.

"Sableye–" Kyungsoo lunges forward, trying to run, but then there's Baekhyun's burgeoning weight holding him down. And Sableye's looking up at him, shaking its head as if saying, _don't be stupid. I'm a Pokemon; it would take more than that to kill me, master._ But who _cares_ if the trainer's intent isn't to kill Sableye but to incapacitate it, instead? It doesn't make the electric-type trainer any more of a good person, doesn't even make him any more humane. In trainer school, _everyone_ is made to remember the first golden rule when resolving to oneself to become a trainer for the rest of his life – every trainer must protect his Pokemon at all costs, even at the expense of his life. Pokemon are not tools; they're your friends, partners. And you don't treat your friends like shit and just use them. That's not how it works. "Shit, where's Garde– Pelipper, get Sableye out of there _right now–_ "

"Don't be stupid," Baekhyun whispers right in Kyungsoo's ear. He digs his elbow into Kyungsoo's side, twists it there and presses even harder until Kyungsoo's grimacing in pain and shooting a stern look in his direction. "Panic won't get you anywhere. That's what that trainer wants you to feel: panic, _despair._ And are you _stupid?_ Pelipper's weak to both of that guy's Pokemon–"

Fuck you, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. He hears it, clearer than the wind, the syllables spaced out like drawling them will make a difference. It won't. Sableye's lying there on the floor and Baekhyun's stuck to his side and that asshole of a trainer's crouching low to pick up his Sableye and– "If you send another Pokemon out, all he has to do is to send out another from his party _and then_ get back to beating up Sableye. So summoning Pelipper won't solve anything," Baekhyun reminds him, dropping the words through gritted teeth. Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath in response. Grinds his teeth like that will actually scare Baekhyun away. But it won't. Baekhyun needs him to remain steady on his feet as much as Kyungsoo needs Baekhyun to keep him from punching that fucked up trainer square on the nose and cackling as he watches the man bleed. "Don't do it. C'mon, aren't I supposed to be the more aggressive one between the two of us?"

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Kyungsoo grumbles, then nudges Baekhyun right back in his side. Slowly, he slides his hand down the stretch of Baekhyun's body and rests it at the base of the slope of Baekhyun's waist. Just rests it there and keeps a light grip on Baekhyun if Baekhyun ever feels his knees give away. Friendship is never a one-way street, after all: Baekhyun keeps Kyungsoo in check, Kyungsoo keeps Baekhyun on his feet. Baekhyun tenses again for the quickest second and then he's back, standing upright one second and slumping against Kyungsoo's body the very next. "Thanks."

Baekhyun chuckles. Kyungsoo can feel the heat of Baekhyun's breath on the shell of his ear. It makes his insides turn. "You're getting a hang of this."

No, Kyungsoo wants to argue, he's always been good at this 'giving in' thing, but he knows better than to lie to Baekhyun who has known him nearly all his life, even with ten years of being apart stretched between them. He knows better than to put up a fight _now_ , faced with a terrifying opponent who's leaned back and stopped reaching out for Sableye in favor of eyeing Kyungsoo with so much interest. And he knows better than to lie to himself. He's sick and tired of that. He's twenty years old now; he's not a kid anymore. He's not Sinyuki-ri's little Do Kyungsoo; he _is_ Do Kyungsoo. So instead, he rolls his eyes and meets the electric-type trainer's gaze, just as sharp and focused.

Kyungsoo tilts his head a little, just enough for his cheek to brush against Baekhyun's. Baekhyun's first response is a cough; second, to clear his throat. He doesn't question Kyungsoo, though, doesn't even shift in his position, but instead they maintain their steady walking pace as they inch closer to where the electric-type trainer is. So Kyungsoo presses on, whispers just a few centimeters shy of Baekhyun's ear, "Can I ask for a favor? So we can wrap this thing up really quickly." Only then does Baekhyun look to his side, furrows his eyebrows, and show the slightest hint of confusion that Kyungsoo hadn't seen the whole time they were battling alongside each other. "I'll need one of your Pokemon."

" _Hell no,_ " Baekhyun says, laughing a little like it's so silly for Kyungsoo to even be asking for that kind of help and assistance. _Listen to me for a minute,_ Kyungsoo wants to say, but the fire-type trainer steals his attention when he sees the trainer send out an Arcanine against his Gardevoir. Gardevoir takes a few steps back, holds both of its hands up in front of its chest as if concentrating all of its energy into one powerful blow. Kyungsoo shakes his head and screams at the back of his mind, _don't do it,_ hoping Gardevoir will hear him somehow. "I just told you a while ago not to get the others injured so we'll have Pokemon to battle with should the other Grunts come after us and _now_ you want to get mine in danger–"

"I need Espeon–"

Baekhyun snorts. Nudges Kyungsoo in his side hard enough to pass off as his best effort at brushing Kyungsoo aside, as well, but only ends up almost missing a step. "I told you, I'm _not_ lending you my Pokemon–"

"I saw your Espeon in action,” Kyungsoo begins. Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow at him and he’s quick to correct himself, saying, " _Heard_ it in action. Earlier, on the phone. _Whatever._ ” He rolls his eyes for a few quick seconds, then, narrowing his eyes at Baekhyun soon after when he hears Baekhyun chuckling lightly. He shifts his attention to Sableye for a few while, watching his Pokemon get back to its feet and glaring at the electric-type trainer, then looks away when he sees Sableye dissolve into thin air. Sableye isn’t exactly _gone,_ though – it has just disappeared in a thin sheet of shaodws, now crawling along the walls through the shadows drawn on them. The Pokemon isn’t that hard to spot – there's a crack on the gem in its chest in a bright shade of purple instead of the red that it's supposed to be, a crack that doesn't quite disappear with the rest of its body even after transitioning to its shapeless form. The crack sticks out like a sore thumb in the midst of the darkness. And an even smaller gem that looks eerily familiar wedged in that sliver of an opening where Sableye’s supposed to be whole. "And I know it isn't like most Eevees and that you've tapped into its hidden ability. And while those two probably won't attack using status moves, maybe we can use Espeon's Magic Bounce ability to deflect the negative effects of the Reveal Glass on the genies."

“We’re not trying to suppress the genies’ abilities now, are we?” Baekhyun asks. “Because Magic Bounce doesn’t bounce back abilities. So if Luxray ever gets back to full health and intimidates one of our Pokemon to get that attack power drop–"

“Only Mold Breaker disregards other abilities,” Kyungsoo replies, muttering. Baekhyun nods, mumbles something that sounds a lot like ’that’s what I thought’. Kyungsoo only lets out a low exhale in response. “And I know Magic Bounce usually bounces back only attacks and nothing else, but we _can_ try reflecting the energy in the Reveal Glass to… hard counter it. It’s worth a shot."

A few feet away, the electric-type trainer takes an attack to the gut and gets pushed up against the wall even before he can grab one of the Pokeballs in his arm band. The man scoffs, sneers, _laughs_ like he hasn’t just taken the brunt force of a Pokemon attack to his body. It makes Kyungsoo shiver a little, makes the pulse in the back of his knees quicken and makes him gulp hard in an effort to ease the growing tightness in his throat. “Is that all you’ve got, young trainers? _That’s it?_ "

Baekhyun lets out a low scowl for a second, then turns to the trainer with a glare. “Shut up. I’m not talking to you,” he grumbles, squinting hard before shifting his gaze back to Kyungsoo. One side of his mouth is pulled up into a weird, unsettling smirk; the other side is tugged down to a frown. It makes Baekhyun look like he’s caught in a crossfire of emotions, uncertain of exactly how to feel right in the middle of a battle. Should he be scared, afraid, freaked out of his wits? Should he just be happy he’s and his Pokemon are still alive? Should he even be feeling anything at all? Kyungsoo gets that, the push and pull of emotions in people’s systems. It happens to him a lot. Often, he’d be as still as a lake, and then the winds will begin to blow and every single feeling will ripple through him and crash and overcome him like a wave.

Or maybe Baekhyun will decide to jump into the water without preamble and fuck with Kyungsoo's stillness. It happens. It happens to him _a lot._

“Okay. So we’ll use Espeon’s Magic Bounce to keep reflecting the energy back into the Glass and eventually get it wrecked, is that what you’re saying?” Baekhyun says after a while, resurfacing. When Kyungsoo takes a little longer than usual to reply, exhaustion blocking all of his thoughts and fatigue slowing him down more than it should, Baekhyun pinches him in his side. Baekhyun doesn’t even fancy pinching people anywhere. “But if that happens, there won’t be any way for the genies to revert to their normal form–"

“There _is_ no normal form, Byun Baekhyun- _ssi,_ ” says the electric-type trainer, slowly getting back on his feet as he pushes himself off the floor. Sableye is quick, though, assaulting the trainer with another Shadow Sneak before disappearing to help Gardevoir with the genies. He falls back to the ground, seething at the impact of the collision, but he goes on to say, “There is only an Incarnate form and a Therian form. A far less superlative form _and_ a godlike form that strikes fear upon everyone, crippling even the strongest and the most fearless of Pokemon.” His voice lilts as he ends, doesn’t crack. Doesn’t break even when the man’s voice raises about an octave higher. There are scars on his face, some of the cuts bleeding or just leaving a nasty mark on the man’s skin, the hard angles of his cheeks, but he seems undeterred. If anything, he just looks even more fuelled with the desire to battle, to destroy both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun, what with the wicked grin on his lips. To take over the world by striking fear upon everyone using the Reveal Glass to control the genies. And trainers who have no fear hardly ever lose. “They are the same creatures at the very core, but as gods they show more mercy than power. It’s ridiculous."

“It’s just right,” Kyungsoo argues. He leans forward, balling one hand into a fist, and he can punch the man square on the nose _now_ , but– _No,_ says a voice at the back of his mind. No, not right now. There are other ways to save the world and prove a point; punching someone isn’t one of them. "These legendary Pokemon–"

“–are so, _so foolish_ and weak for other Pokemon much weaker than them,” the electric-type trainer says, drawling his syllables, some of them stumbling on the others. One more hit and Sableye can take out this trainer without much difficulty and really, Kyungsoo can just tell his Sableye to do exactly that, but part of him wants to hear more of this man’s voice, of whatever he has to say. Of the sick understanding of Pokemon that he has that might just be the reality everyone hasn’t been seeing all these years. People fight for different reasons, after all; this isn’t something he’s hearing for the first time. “Pokemon are supposed to exist to empower each other, not to _assist_ humans. Pokemon are supposed to be here to help each other survive, not to act as slaves to humans who don’t even know how to handle real power, how to use it properly. But what’s happening? Pokemon are giving into people’s whims, letting themselves be–"

“But some trainers don’t treat their Pokemon like shit!” Baekhyun barks in response. “You think controlling these genies will help your cause? Will help–“ He coughs, loud and hard, and resurfaces with heavy breathing. The air around them has become thick, too thick and suffocating and _shit,_ Kyungsoo can see Gardevoir giving of the brightest glow as it tries to fight off the Arcanine Pikachu has just successfully paralyzed. The fire-type trainer sends out another Pokemon, then. Kyungsoo squints a little, trying to see better and to identify the Pokemon appearing right before his eyes – half of the Pokemon's body is covered in a dark red coat and the rest of it covered in steel or at least some type of metal. He’s seen this Pokemon before, a long time ago. He just can’t remember _where._ “And what even happens after you control the legendaries and use them to control the other Pokemon? _What then?_ "

“Easy,” the electric-type trainer says, chuckling. He cracks his knuckles, winces at the pain, but he’s still wearing that teasing smile, the peculiar glint in his eyes as he squints as if studying both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. He drops his hand to his side, then, and Kyungsoo follows the motion, studying the way the man taps three beats on the capsule before the Pokeball glows in the brightest shade of red. Kyungsoo tries to reach Gardevoir at the very back of his mind to say, use Teleport to get the genies out of here, Gardevoir. _Save yourself and the other Pokemon now–_ “We orchestrate a cleansing, a massive reset, so that Pokemon can finally take over the world when we start a new chapter.

“We’re going to create a new world just for Pokemon and for trainers who understand what it means to live alongside these wonderful creatures,” the man continues, his voice dropping to a hum. And then he’s smiling, grinning, _sneering,_ canines peeking, the fabric of the mask he’s wearing folding as the smile stretches even more across his lips. “And you won’t live to see the day that happens."

↠

Kyungsoo opens his eyes and shuts them closed again as soon as he feels a nasty burn at the back of his eyelids. It feels like taking a punch or two to the eyes, or having to stay up for three days straight to accomplish assignments and to review for a big exam. It feels like the first time Ralts ever attacked Kyungsoo out of surprise more than out of self-defense – that was when Kyungsoo was only eight, still a rookie trainer and without much experience in taming Pokemon. He was hoping to surprise Ralts that time by tying a nice little scarf around its neck that’s supposed to make it faster than it should already is. Just a tiny gift from Seungsoo. Seungsoo loved giving Kyungsoo random things for his Pokemon, after all. In the end, _he_ was the one who was startled by his darling little Pokemon. The damage wasn’t so bad – he didn’t break any ribs, didn’t break any bones, but he did end up with all these nasty cuts on his arms. “I can play Connect the Dots on this,” Baekhyun had said then, running his finger along the sorest spots on Kyungsoo’s skin, and Kyungsoo’s kind response was a wry smile, a scowl. Kimchi jjigae courtesy of his brother while Baekhyun applied ointment on his wounds. “This one’s a cloud, and then this one’s Santa Claus–"

“You don’t have to do this,” he’d said, then tried to wiggle his arm free from Baekhyun’s grasp. Baekhyun’s grip was tight, steady. It didn’t hurt, though – Baekhyun’s hold on him was loose enough that if he had enough energy he could very well shake Baekhyun’s hand off. And he hardly had energy to open his eyes, much more try to argue. “I know you have other things to do–"

“I’m doing it for the jjgae,” Baekhyun’d replied, gaze still fixed on the last wound he was supposed to apply ointment to. A few more dabs and he was done, leaning back into his seat while wiping the cream off his finger. There was a small smile on his lips. Kyungsoo felt his chest tighten, felt the pulse in his palms quicken. When the corners of Baekhyun’s mouth pulled up into a bigger smile, something akin to a grin, Kyungsoo just _knew_ Baekhyun could feel it, too. “And it’s not so hard. I mean, I’ve been doing the same for myself my entire life. I trip on everything everyday. Seriously, this… ointment thing? No biggie. Not a chore at all–"

“Thank you,” Kyungsoo mumbled, then looked away. He was sure he caught the hitch in Baekhyun’s breathing then, the look of surprise on Baekhyun’s face from the corner of his eye. And he could remember smiling a little, as well. “For taking care of me and looking out for me all the time."

“You’re not supposed to be here with me,” is what greets him when he opens his eyes again, though. The voice is faint, a bit rough, honeyed with or with fatigue, but Kyungsoo recognizes it just the same. He’s bad with names, but Soojung’s voice he can _definitely_ pick out from a crowd. He squints for a moment then tries to push himself up, prop himself against his arms, but his skin still feels too sore and his limbs feel as if they’ll fall off if he so much as wiggles in his position. He settles for looking around him, then, craning his neck to look to his sides. Soojung’s still in her hospital bed to his right, lips tuggged down to a frown; to his left, Baekhyun's slowly rousing from his sleep, lifting his head from where he had it rested on a side of Kyungsoo’s bed and chewing at the air as he rubs his eyes. There’s a smidgen of drool flaunted on his cheek and Kyungsoo would reach out for it if he could, but _that gross,_ a voice at the back of his mind says. And then Baekhyun’s shaking off the last dregs of slumber from his system, cracking his neck and blinking more than he usually does in an attempt to stay awake for more than five seconds. “You’re supposed to be in Gangneung now, earning your fourth badge."

I know, Kyungsoo wants to say, but Baekhyun beats him to it with a wave of a hand, telling Soojung in a soft voice, “Yeah, he knows. Now stop talking too much. It’s still too early.” It isn’t. The clock reads nine in the morning and the sun is already up high outside, some of its rays filtering through the window and prickling Kyungsoo’s skin. He should be on his feet and scrambling to the kitchen to whip up a quick meal, or maybe even dashing out of the Pokemon Center so he can fly to Gangneung-si and get there in an hour or two. He should be training his Pokemon to take on the ground-type gym leader in the next city so he can earn his fourth badge, and then another, and then another. He shouldn’t be confined to a hospital bed with arms bandaged up to the elbows and his calves wrapped in all sorts of pain patches. And yet he’s here, a victim of last night’s battle, a survivor of that nasty explosion that almost burnt Team Rocket’s hideout to cinders.

He laughs a little at the memory, regrets it when he feels a dull ache in his ribs. He holds his hands up in front of him, as well, taking in the sight of his bruised palms, fingers, nails. At least you still have all of your fingers, a voice at the back of his mind says, and it’s true – with everything that happened last night, it’s a miracle that he and Baekhyun are still alive.

He takes a deep breath, remembering last night’s encounter like it’s unfolding right in front of him _at this very moment:_ they had a nice, long chat with one of the Rockets while directing Gardevoir’s actions at the very back of his mind. Then he somehow discovered that Sableye can mega evolve and that the crack on the red gem it’s wearing wasn't an ordinary crack, wasn’t an accident – it’s a Sablenite wedged right in Sableye’s chest. How it got there still escapes him, but that doesn’t matter anymore – he was able to use that surprise to his advantage. Espeon and Mega Sableye then teamed up to overpower the Reveal Glass with the item’s won strength and were eventually able to free the legendary genies from the web Team Rocket had caught the three Pokemon in. Then they returned the Reveal Glass to Landorus, the leader of the genies, as soon as the genies reverted to their Incarnate form. Then the Rocket bosses – that’s what Baekhyun called them, at least, because, “No ordinary Grunt would own _a Zapdos and a Heatran,_ c'mon now" – fled just when the genies were about to face them, but not without setting off a bomb planted deep in the foundation of the hideout. It was the perfect ending to an almost perfect battle, now that Kyungsoo thinks about it. It was the perfect time for Team Rocket to use the eject button, as well.

“Don’t miss us too much!” he recalls the electric-type trainer saying. Beside him, the fire-type trainer blew a kiss in their direction. Then they were disappearing behind a thick cloak of darkness, Darkrai wrapping its arms around them and pulling them into a black hole that had magically appeared behind the duo. The taller trainer was the first to disappear, then the electric-type trainer. Darkrai sneered at them before turning its back on them and cackling. Baekhyun shivered; Kyungsoo shook all over, felt his knees go weak. He didn’t miss the red band on Darkrai’s arm, though, didn’t miss the wisps of gold threads that linked the band to the necklace Darkrai was wearing. That one was red, as well, a shade of red much brighter than the one tied to Darkrai’s arm.

Soon, the ceilings were crashing to the ground and he was telling Gardevoir to take the genies to safety first, then Baekhyun and his Pokemon, and then Sableye who’d already collapsed on the floor. _Don’t worry about me,_ he’d told his Pokemon, offering Gardevoir his best smile. If Gardevoir could speak then it probably would’ve said _bullshit, you’re lying_ already. Gardevoir only let out a faint cry in response, offered a sad smile, then gestured for the genies to move closer to it.

 _Poof,_ then the genies were gone. Another _poof,_ then Gardevoir was back and wrapping its arms around Baekhyun and his Pikachu. One more, then Gardevoir was cradling both Sableye and Espeon in its arms before disappearing behind the thickening smoke around them. And then finally, Kyungsoo felt warm arms wrap around him, a light pinch in the side jolting him back to life. _I’m not letting you head in the other direction, Soo. Don’t be stupid. Don’t–_

“I made juk,” comes Sunyoung’s voice from the doorway now. She gives Kyungsoo a small smile, then adds, “You still like to have yellow radish on the side, right?"

“He does,” Baekhyun whispers, then looks to his side. His eyelids still threaten to drop over his eyes from time to time, but for the most part he can hold Kyungsoo’s gaze now without drifting off every few seconds. And Kyungsoo can see the scars on Baekhyun’s face better now, remnants of the battle they’d faced last night _together_ screaming at him in bright red marks. So Kyungsoo tries to reach over, dances his fingers to where Baekhyun has his hand resting idly on Kyungsoo’s bed, and brushes the cold pads on Baekhyun’s skin. Baekhyun hiccups and widens his eyes in response. “And a shitton of kimchi, yeah, he’d like that–"

“ _We_ would like that,” Kyungsoo amends. His chest feels a bit too tight and heavy for nine in the morning and he doesn’t have enough energy to fight the small smile tugging up at the corners of his lips so he gives into it, breathes out at the same time that Baekhyun lets a tiny _oh_ slip from his lips. “Baekhyun loves kimchi more than I do."

Sunyoung parts her lips. Her cheeks are tugged up and the force spills over to the corners of her mouth, but she doesn’t say a thing. Doesn’t even make a sound like it’s finally caught up with her – the fatigue from preparing breakfast for two people who’d just come from a tough battle, and then a patient who hasn’t quite recovered from the aftermath of having a group of evil trainers attack her, making sure she was too beaten up to even try to breathe. The feeble link of Kyungsoo and Baekhyun’s fingers where the tips of their nails just barely touch. Kyungsoo giving in, but not quite giving up. Instead, she nods and turns on her heel, waving over her shoulder like it can ever summarize everything she wants to say. Only when she’s a third of her way down the corridor does she look back, pausing in her tracks to say, “And coffee, as well?"

Baekhyun peeks from the slits of his bangs, then hooks one finger onto Kyungsoo’s own. Kyungsoo doesn’t have wounds here, doesn’t have scars to remind him of last night, so he holds on a little longer than he should. “Hot chocolate,” he calls out at the slightest jerk of Baekhyun’s finger, at the weird warmth washing over him, crawling from the tips of his fingers then up. An odd form of relief and security wrapping around him like a quilt. “Hot chocolate would be nice."

Baekhyun smiles. It feels like winter during autumn during summer. It feels a bit like home.

↠

Three days – that’s the amount of time it takes for Kyungsoo to actually feel his legs again, for him to regain enough strength to remain standing on two feet without having to hold onto someone for support. Two out of five times, it’s Nurse Jinri who’s there beside him, ready to offer help. Three out of five, it’s Baekhyun. From time to time, Minseok drops by to visit and give Kyungsoo updates on how things have panned out since the Reveal Glass has been restored to its normal, untarnished form and has been returned to the genies, but for the most part it’s Baekhyun who quickly gets to his feet whenever Kyungsoo motions to stand, Baekhyun who looks up from whatever notes he’s scribbling on his notebook to reach out, to assist. Baekhyun stays – in Sokcho-si far longer than he should, retracing some of the memories of the past decade on the sand and along the shore, in the Pokemon Center instead of being _out there,_ catching Pokemon or preparing for the next gym challenge in Gangneung-si. Baekhyun stays right beside Kyungsoo every night until around nine in the morning when he has to head out to get some air, train his Pokemon a bit. Maybe chat with some residents to extract information he normally wouldn’t get from the news. And even then he’ll be back just a bit before lunch and try assist the trainee nurses in the kitchen, try to whip up a good meal for them and for their Pokemon.

Kyungsoo laughs to himself. Operative term: _try._ Baekhyun isn’t that bad when it comes to making Pokemon medicine, but leave him with tons of ingredients and too much time and he’ll come up with the strangest, most unorthodox dishes. They’re edible, for the most part, but Kyungsoo can’t decide yet if he should be floored or frightened by Baekhyun’s creations. He can’t tell if it’s supposed to be sweet or just a bit sour. He can’t even tell if it’s the right decision to let Baekhyun do the things he does but push him away as soon as he tries to lean in for a kiss.

You’re not pushing him away, says a voice at the back of his head now. You’re just reminding him that it’s _not the right time yet._ And what’s wrong with setting some boundaries? Their goal right now should be to earn the remaining badges and win the Pokemon League. Chuncheon-si’s Lake Trio still hasn't been found. And he still sees Cobalion looking through the window from time to time, when he wakes up at midnight or just before the break of dawn. So they can’t just sit back, relax, and link their fingers together in a tight loop. It doesn’t work that way. It shouldn’t.

“Aaand we’re _not_ having berry soup today! Hurray!” Baekhyun calls out from the doorstep now, holding a tray in front of him and keeping one of the glasses on it from slipping by pressing his chin to the cool surface. Kyungsoo feels his body give a tiny jerk, then shivers a little when he feels a dull ache in his ribs. It’s still there, the scars from the battle three days ago. He won’t be surprised if they stay a little longer the same way has Baekhyun remained in the Center far longer than he usually does. Then Baekhyun seethes at the sudden rush of cold, almost shrieks when Sableye slides down from Kyungsoo’s bed to the floor and makes its way to him. Sceptile is quick to hold Sableye back, though, the leaves shooting out from its wrists reaching over to where Sableye is and wrapping around the Pokemon’s torso. Soon, Baekhyun’s sticking his tongue out at Sableye, whispering a small thank you in Sceptile’s direction for keeping Sableye out of his way. Thanking Gardevoir, as well, for keeping him from tripping on the shadow on the floor that Sableye has controlled in an attempt to ‘have fun’ with Baekhyun.

“I hate your Pokemon,” Baekhyun grumbles. He still sets a food bowl right in front of Sableye, though, and gives Sableye’s ear a light pinch before pulling away. “ _Really,_ they don’t listen to anyone but you!"

Like trainer, like Pokemon, Kyungsoo’s tempted to say, but instead he gives Sableye a sharp look until the Pokemon slumps in its seat and stops baring its teeth at Baekhyun. “Sorry, that’s just how they are,” he reasons after a while, once Baekhyun has leaned back in his own seat and Sableye has calmed down, busying itself in a corner with eating the meal Baekhyun had cooked for it. “It’s in their personality–“ He means to rush the last bit, means to say the words at the back of his mind, but Baekhyun doesn’t allow him to. He meets Baekhyun’s focused gaze in the midst of the chaos, sees himself in Baekhyun’s eyes. Feels Baekhyun slide one hand up his arm before curling it on the base of his nape, feels the roughs pads of Baekhyun’s fingers and shivers at the cold line they leave on his skin. It makes his insides turn a little, makes his chest grow tight enough that he hiccups for no reason at all. It makes him suck in his bottom lip and accidentally-on-purpose draws Baekhyun’s attention to that. Baekhyun doesn’t lean in, though. He just stays there, stares, sort of stuck in thought with the way he’s tilting his head to the side and licking his own lips and biting his bottom lip close to the corner, just enough to tease a small smile of out the contours of his mouth.

And Kyungsoo wants to break his resolve right then and there, wants to reach out to touch. To do more. For a moment, he considers _maybe_ at least trapping Baekhyun’s hand beneath his own, but then the prickling heat on his lips becomes too unbearable and the hot liquid in the spoon pressed to his chin leaves his skin with a nasty ache,

“Ow,” he yowls, then kicks Baekhyun with his left leg. Baekhyun pulls away in an instant, dodging the attack, but he’s also dropping the spoon to the saucer, reaching out to wipe off the traces of the stew stuck to Kyungsoo’s skin. And then there it is again – the temptation, Baekhyun’s warm presence, the thrumming in his chest, the distance between them thinning even more and making it easier, so much easier for Kyungsoo to _just give in–_

Baekhyun presses his index finger to Kyungsoo’s lips. He inches closer, resting his forehead against Kyungsoo’s own, and then he stops – stops tapping a beat on Kyungsoo’s nape, stops staring at Kyungsoo’s lips and closes his eyes, instead. Stops humming and laughs, faint, almost choked, as he mutters, “This is silly."

Kyungsoo gulps hard. Two beats, then he asks, “What is?"

“This,” Baekhyun whispers in response, eyes still closed. His breath catches on Kyungsoo’s skin, wet and warm, and Kyungsoo’s letting out a loud shiver. Baekhyun chuckles this time. “You’re just there and I’m _right here_ and I could be kissing you right now."

“But you aren’t,” Kyungsoo comments. His voice cracks somewhere in between. He chokes it up to having sore throat. Or one of those many scars on his skin. Or maybe even fear.

“But I’m not,” Baekhyun whispers, finishing with a smile. He takes a deep, shaky breath, inhaling noisily through his nose, then tilts his head a little. His top lip brushes against Kyungsoo’s cheek; it’s electric.

“Hey, don’t look so sad. You still owe me an answer,” Baekhyun teases after a while. He taps a quick beat on the tip of Kyungsoo’s nose between them, then groans a little when he ends up hitting his eye. Kyungsoo tries not to chuckle, but too late – the sound spills from his lips without preamble, making Baekhyun scowl all the more. Baekhyun presses on, though, voice picking up volume as he goes along. “I thought you’d drop it on me out of the blue the whole time we were alone the other day but you don’t even look like you remember what we talked about a few days ago. I mean–“ And then he’s laughing, not as loud but just as bright, but for the most part he sounds as if he’s choking on air, on his own spit. At the thinning space between them and the suffocating warmth they are now sharing. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and tries to breathe. “I wasn’t shitting you when I said all those things, okay. I know I kid around half the time but all those things–"

“–are real,” Kyungsoo finishes, shutting his eyes even tighter if he can. He can hear the hitch in Baekhyun’s breathing, can hear Baekhyun’s soft humming. He can hear the loud thumping in his chest, the thundering pulse at the back of his ears and elbows and knees. And he can _hear_ Baekhyun smiling through the gentle lilt of his voice. It’s easy to navigate one’s way through these things, familiar mazes that they’ve long conquered too many times already, _hand in hand._ If there is one thing that Kyungsoo won't ever forget, it’s the sound of Baekhyun’s voice. “I know. It’s easy to tell when you’re bluffing. You do this weird eyebrow twitch and you wear the weirdest smile and–"

“So you _do_ pay attention,” Baekhyun hums. He chuckles, just a faint sliver of laughter spilling from his lips, and then he’s sliding his hand up Kyungsoo’s nape again. Kyungsoo leans a little into the touch. “I always thought you were looking elsewhere."

Kyungsoo opens his eyes. Half of him’s expecting to find Baekhyun staring straight at him; half of him just wants to keep his eyes closed and just listen to the sound of Baekhyun’s voice because then he won’t be thinking of reaching to touch Baekhyun, to hold him. He’ll only be wondering how Baekhyun’s voice would sound if it filled his throat, how Baekhyun’s moans would sound trapped in the slide of their mouths. All thought and no action – that’s him, alright. But they’re not kids anymore, and back when they were ten Baekhyun took that blind leap of faith and pulled Kyungsoo close for a kiss. So maybe _this_ has always been part of the plan. Maybe they were always meant to stumble into and out of each other’s lives somehow. Maybe they were always meant to collide. So Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, holds it all in in his chest before letting go. He feels like a first-time sky diver pushing himself off the cliff, yelling obscenities at the back of his mind while screaming a stream of laughter through his mouth. He feels like a Pokemon hatching from an egg and seeing light for the first time.

“Hey, stay with me,” Baekhyun says, running his fingers up and down the column of Kyungsoo’s nape. When Kyungsoo jerks back, pressing into Baekhyun’s warm palm for a moment before sitting upright again, Baekhyun laughs. Baekhyun hasn’t opened his eyes just yet. “You’re still ticklish there, after all these years."

“It’s not something you outgrow,” Kyungsoo argues. He doesn’t brush Baekhyun off, though, doesn’t shift his gaze from Baekhyun’s pretty mouth when the corners lift into a bright grin. Instead, he takes a deep breath, not quite pushing the words dangling from the back of his teeth down his throat yet. And when he feels them claw at his skin, when he feels the words knock on the back of his teeth, he finally gives in. Drops the bomb right in front of Baekhyun because isn’t that what Baekhyun was expecting? Doesn’t Baekhyun love surprises? And isn’t honesty the best kind of surprise that Kyungsoo can ever offer?

“I… did it to see if you’ll ever stop running away,” he whispers, faint at first but slowly gaining cadence. Baekhyun opens his eyes, opens them wide, and fixes his gaze on Kyungsoo’s own. Never mind that he’s getting a little cross-eyed, or that he looks weird with that look on his face – parted lips, cheeks pulled down, no trace of the bright, bold grin he was wearing earlier on his features, on his skin – Baekhyun’s looking _at him,_ searching for clues. And Kyungsoo's looking right into Baekhyun’s eyes even if it feels like his eyebrows are being pulled into a knot so tight he can’t even see clearly. “You’re– It’s just so hard to read you. I thought I still knew you after all these years but _every single time_ you came too close, you’d move away the very next minute. You’d reach out but pull away. It’s _sickening,_ Baek.” He shakes his head, laughing. He can taste blood and metal in his mouth. He should’ve stuffed himself with juk before having this talk so he could choke up whatever weird things he’d be saying to the lump of rice stuck in his throat. Baekhyun should’ve already left and gone to Gangneung-si three days ago. Baekhyun's not supposed to be here. But here they are, foreheads pressed to each other, lips trembling. Kyungsoo’s fists are shaking and he aches all over and _shit,_ if this is what taking too many Shadow Sneaks to the gut feels then he feels sorry for that evil trainer he fought three days back.

"I go to bed knowing you’re just behind me and you’ll climb onto my bed five minutes before I drift off, then I wake up alone in a room. You promise to stick around for lunch because we’ve been reunited with a friend but you leave at sunrise. What did you want me to do? Run after you?” Kyungsoo scoffs. "Because the last time I did, you got on a bus, Baekhyun, _the last time I did what you wanted me to do,_ you got on a bus, left the island, and never called back."

Baekhyun parts his lips. Presses them together, then licks them open again. Kyungsoo keeps his eyes on the bridge of Baekhyun’s nose, wills himself to not drop his gaze south, to the gentle swell of Baekhyun’s mouth, but it’s difficult. Baekhyun isn’t meeting his gaze and Baekhyun isn’t _speaking_ and he doesn’t know this Baekhyun at all. Or he’d rather not know this Baekhyun – the last time he saw this was the night before Baekhyun left, when he stormed out of Kyungsoo’s room right after saying, “Yah, meet me near the bus stop, alright? I mean the beach part thing near the bus stop? Don’t be late!” And he doesn’t want a repeat of that beach scene anymore. They’ve already been in this kind of battle so many times already and they both know very well that the good ol’ strategy won’t work anymore. It’s the harsh reality of life.

Baekhyun lets out a low huff after a while, whispering, “I’m sorry for being an asshole.” And then, after a heartbeat, “But you have to apologize for being an asshole, as well."

“You have the _gall_ to tell me–"

“What you need to hear. What you’ve always needed to hear, really,” Baekhyun says, snorting. He’s sucking in his bottom lip again and _goddamit, Baekhyun,_ Kyungsoo wants to say. Wants to fist his hands in Baekhyun’s shirt because this _is_ silly. They shouldn’t even be speaking. This is ten years – no, _their entire lifetime_ in the making. So why does he have to keep hurting himself and keep telling himself that there’s a stupid mission to fulfil, that there are still badges to be earned and _not now, Baekhyun, not yet?_ “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

A shitton of honesty in exchange for Kyungsoo’s own brand of transparency. It makes sense. Kyungsoo doesn’t even try to deny it. But he does close his eyes again, though, does take a deep, shaky breath when he feels Baekhyun caress his nape. Two beats, then he parts his lips, letting the words spill from the corners of his mouth before he can even think of pushing them back down his throat again. “I hate you."

Baekhyun chuckles. _Hums,_ even, because Kyungsoo’s positive he’s never heard laughter as melodious as that. And he’s always had Baekhyun’s laughter memorized like the back of his hand. If Baekhyun’s voice were a lighthouse then he’d never lose his way. And if it was an anchor then he’d never be able to set sail again. He’d just stay there, chained to the seafloor, unable to move. Stuck in the web of Baekhyun’s sickeningly sweet smile and his bright laughter.

“No, you don’t,” Baekhyun singsongs. There’s no uncertainty in his tone, though, only a song so familiar Kyungsoo could be singing to it already if he wanted to.

Kyungsoo laughs a little. He breathes out. Baekhyun shivers.”Yeah,” he says, voice so faint he could have just been breathing. So he clears his throat and repeats, this time in a louder voice, “Yeah, you’re right."

Baekhyun stills. The last sliver of laughter crawls out from the jut of his bottom lip and dangles there, awkward and abruptly cut off, and the corners of his lips remain tugged up in a weird smile. Kyungsoo would laugh if he could, but his stomach twists and lurches when Baekhyun drops his hands to his sides _then_ lifts then to cup his cheeks. Baekhyun leans back a little, holds him at arm’s length, and that’s when it begins, the slow and torturous climb from wearing confusion in the way Baekhyun parts his lips to a full grin, bright and blinding. It makes his chest tighten, makes his pulse quicken, makes his thighs and knees and arms give an involuntary jerk that startles a gasp out of him. But Baekhyun keeps smiling, grinning, like he’s been kept in the dark for so long so _please, please, please let me just be happy and grin like a weirdo. Just let me have this. Don’t ruin it._

“So, can I kiss you now?” Baekhyun asks. He sucks in his bottom lip and looks at Kyungsoo through the slits of his bangs. “Please?"

“No,” Kyungsoo blurts out faster than the can take a deep breath. Baekhyun’s left arm gives a tiny jerk, just strong enough to reach Kyungsoo’s cheek and to make him too aware of Baekhyun’s fingers turning cold against his skin. Baekhyun’s hold remains steady, though, secure, but if the silence hangs between them for another five seconds then he might just ruin everything, everything they’ve worked hard for to get to where they are now. Years of running around and away – not from each other but from their feelings – has finally brought them to this moment; he'd be stupid to fuck everything up now. So he reaches out, balls his hands into fists in Baekhyun’s shirt and tugs him closer. Another, then Baekhyun’s stuttering forward, digging his elbows into the cushion on either side of Kyungsoo to keep himself steady. His breath catches on Kyungsoo’s skin. Kyungsoo gulps hard in response. One last light tug and they’re back where they started, except it’s Kyungsoo who’s leaning in now, Kyungsoo who’s sucking in his bottom lip and holding everything in instead of Baekhyun keeping everything at bay. “I mean not now. _Not yet._ Just– Not right now."

Baekhyun scoffs. He sounds like someone who’d just won the lottery but found out he was going to take home play money instead of real cash. Or maybe a kid who’s been deprived of sweets or songpyeon during Chuseok. The corners of his mouth are tugged up just a little, enough to light up the rest of his features, but his gaze is aimless, unfocused. Don’t do that, Kyungsoo wants to say, but who is he to demand something like this from Baekhyun? So he goes with one last tug on Baekhyun’s shirt, a tilt of the head. A brush of his lips to the soft, warm skin of Baekhyun’s right cheek that makes Baekhyun take a sharp, rattling breath.

“Remember what happened the last time we– that time when we–"

“–when we kissed,” Baekhyun continues, breathing out the syllables through the narrow gap of his lips. Kyungsoo nods, keeps his lips there, stays in the awkward fit of their bodies. The position is difficult, puts strain on his back, but it’s the only way to keep Baekhyun close but not take everything Baekhyun has to offer just yet. Baekhyun seems to feel it, as well, when he snakes his hand around Kyungsoo’s waist and rests it on the small of Kyungsoo’s back. “But we were stupid then. I mean, if we’d just talked after that–"

“You ran away."

“I was _freaking out,_ ” Baekhyun groans, then gives Kyungsoo’s side a light slap. Kyungsoo laughs, chuckles, giggles against Baekhyun’s skin. Baekhyun shivers, just strong enough for Kyungsoo to feel it in the tight fit of their bodies. Half of him feels oddly calm, but sort of bereft. Sort of like he’d be willing to break his resolve again and reconsider just catching Baekhyun’s lips between his teeth for a kiss. “I mean, I was just supposed to confess but you asked for an explanation and I panicked even more because _how the hell do you explain falling in love with your best friend?_ 'Hey, I woke up and got hit by the weirdest thought of wanting to spend the rest of my life with you three days before I was supposed to leave for a new place–‘"

And then Kyungsoo’s laughing, really laughing now, letting his face fall forward and resting his forehead on Baekhyun’s shoulder. There are a hundred – no _a thousand_ – words that he should be telling Baekhyun now, all the words he should be reasoning with, but he has a feeling Baekhyun will get it soon. Maybe he’ll tell him later, after breakfast, when they’re both fully awake already and not saying silly things to each other anymore. Tell him that _hey,_ we haven’t even found the Lake Trio yet. The mission with Minseok-hyung still isn’t over. We can’t just let our guard down. Maybe later he can tell Baekhyun exactly what he means by _not yet_ and finally nail that big _when_ that Baekhyun wants answered. Maybe later he’ll stop feeling this way, too caught up in a messy tangle of emotions and Baekhyun’s laughter. So for now he closes his eyes and relishes the moment, commits to memory Baekhyun’s laughter, the way their bodies fit, and the way Baekhyun grabs him by the cheeks again, thumbs pressed to Kyungsoo’s lips and flushing all of Kyungsoo’s laughter to the back of his throat. And he lets Baekhyun press his lips to where his thumbs are, to where they could be kissing, just close enough for Kyungsoo to feel Baekhyun's breath, warm, electric, on his skin. Just close enough for Kyungsoo to want more of this and less of the stream of logic running at the back of his mind now.

↠

Kyungsoo doesn't leave for Gangneung-si until the following day, Friday of the same week they infiltrated the Rocket hideout. He would have gotten out of the Center earlier and had the chance to journey to the next city with Baekhyun, already cleared by Nurse Jinri to go on his merry way and try to look for the Lake Trio while training for his next gym challenge, but his knees still felt a bit too weak for him to walk long distances. Heck, he couldn't even stand properly for fifteen long minutes. He kept leaning against the wall while talking to Minseok, then standing upright. After a few minutes, he'd lean back against the surface again until he could feel his knees regain strength. Rinse and repeat until Minseok said, while gripping him by the shoulder, "You know, I can ask Gangneung's leader to come over, host your battle with him in my gym or something." He responded with a violent shake of the head, a frown. What was supposed to be a slap on Minseok's arm that he'd landed on his thigh, instead, because he was fast losing the feeling in his legs again. "I'm not kidding! I'm just worried about you!"

"I'll be okay, don't worry about me," he'd said in response then and tried to summon his best smile. Besides, he has to go to Gangneung-si. When he told Baekhyun to go ahead, start journeying to Gangneung-si, _I'm giving you a head start so you can catch up. You're too slow,_ he'd promised to meet Baekhyun in the city. Where exactly, he didn't know then, but they always somehow found their way to each other, anyway. They'd bump into each other at one point, be it on field while training their Pokemon or in the Pokemon Center. It's a small world that trainers live in, after all. So he repeated, this time louder, "I'm serious, hyung, I'll be alright. I just have to get used to being on my feet again." In a smaller voice at the back of his head, he heard the promise he'd given Baekhyun before Baekhyun slipped from his room with his Pokemon in tow – _I'll find you._

He takes a deep breath now and bends his knees, transferring his weight from one foot to another. He's been walking for close to an hour now and still no sign of the entrance to Odaesan. He can always just fly straight to the city to save himself the trouble of having to walk for three, four hours, but then he's already fallen behind on trying to add more data entries to his PokeDex. His Pokemon storage is looking a bit empty as well, and if he wants a better chance at making it to the Pokemon League then he needs more variety in his Pokemon team. He's happy with his current roster, but after that battle with Minseok where he realized that _shit,_ half of his team was weak to ice-type attacks, he can't let that happen again.

The wind blows against his face, making him stutter in his steps a bit and shut his eyes tight. His hair sticks to his cheeks. He almost sneezes when he feels dust tickle his nose, but soon the blowing winds brush that away from his skin until all that remains prickling his skin are the tips of his hair. It's gotten so much longer now, from when he'd just started his journey. Maybe he should get a haircut in the next city. Gangneung-si is big enough that finding multiple malls there shouldn't be too hard. Or maybe he should just ask Sceptile to trim his hair. It shouldn't be too hard; all he has to do is to show Sceptile _exactly_ how he wants his hair to look once all the cutting is done and–

He hears footsteps in the distance, just a few feet away. He furrows his eyebrows for a moment and crouches low, then, looking around as he bends even more and reaches for the ground with one hand. He remembers Seungsoo teaching him this before, remembers Seungsoo telling him to stick as close to the ground as possible whenever he hears something that seems off or at least makes him feel unsettled. And right now his stomach is lurching, twisting so tight that he feels he might just throw up any second. Another set of footsteps, heavier than the previous, and then– "Whoa," he whispers when he sees a Pokemon cross right in front of him. It looks a bit like a stag, maybe even an antelope, and its head is titled up high, neck craned like the Pokemon is looking for something. The length of its coat is a nice, bright shade of green. And its eyes glow a soft, warm pink. It looks familiar, too familiar, like he's just seen this Pokemon a few days or maybe a week ago, but he can't seem to piece the clues together. All he can think of is that it looks a lot like Cobalion, one of the Swords of Justice, and that it looks exactly like the Pokemon he'd seen in one of the books he picked up when he was reading up on the Swords and the time when they went up against humans in an attempt to protect Pokemon.

The Pokemon moves around, turning on its hind legs, until it catches Kyungsoo out of the corner of its eye. For a moment, Kyungsoo wonders if the Pokemon's thinking of attacking him or at least running him over before running away, but _no,_ he tells himself. Wills himself to calm down. If there's one thing he's learned from mega evolution, it's that Pokemon, whether they like it or not, find it so easy to read human emotions. They find it so easy to figure out what their trainer or any other trainer is feeling just by looking at them, studying them for five, ten seconds. Even less for some Pokemon. So Kyungsoo tries to calm himself down, pushes the memory of what would have been Cobalion's attack to the very back of his mind and focuses on just one thing – finding that goddamned entrance to Odaesan.

A sharp and shrill cry, then another Pokemon emerges from where this stag-like Pokemon came from. It's shorter than the other, sort of looks like a buffalo except its horns are turned forward instead of upward. And its kicking at the ground, each hit three, four seconds apart, like it's preparing to do _something_ that Kyungsoo isn't even sure he wants to figure out. Part of Kyungsoo just wants to run, but what if there are more of these Pokemon in the area? What if they'll just follow him to Odaesan and trap him there? What if he doesn't make it to Odaesan at all? Anything can happen.

Five more seconds then the brown buffalo leans forward, inching even closer to where Kyungsoo is. For a split second, Kyungsoo runs through a mantra at the back of his head – I didn't do anything, I've never hurt Pokemon outside of a battle, _ever,_ I just saved the world from an evil gang and _this is what happens?_ – but then the stag looks at the other Pokemon, shakes its head, then lets out a faint cry. Soon, they're joined by another Pokemon, standing much taller than the other two and wearing a coat more familiar to Kyungsoo. Almost its entire body is covered in thick blue fur, but from the ankle down it's wearing metal clamps close to its hooves. _Swords of Justice,_ a voice at the back of his mind says, reminds him of that day back in Chuncheon-si, on their way to the lakes, when they encountered the same Pokemon and treated it before setting it free once more. It shakes its head at the shorter bovine, as well, then gives Kyungsoo a look, more focused, more discerning, like it's saying, _ah, yes, you. I remember that face. How can I ever forget?_

"Cobalion," he whispers, then gulps hard. He feels for the PokeGear on his wrist, trying to activate the camera of his Gear, but too late. Soon, the Swords of Justice are rushing past him, leaving only traces of their footsteps on the ground and a gust of wind as they speed by him. A light gash on Kyungsoo's arm, as well, just above the PokeGear, as if one of them wanted to say, _too slow, kid. You don't catch legendary Pokemon that way. You've got a lot to learn, young one. You still have a lot to learn._

Kyungsoo laughs to himself and reaches for a bandaid in his pocket. This is nothing; he's gotten worse cuts before. And it certainly won't keep him from trying to reach Odaesan by foot even if his knees are already killing him.

It takes another fifteen minutes to find the entrance to the mountain, and another thirty to navigate his way to the lowest level. The Pokemon inside are mostly tame, not too quick to react or to attack, but Kyungsoo has encountered some that stomped on the ground at the slightest sound of his footsteps or let out a shrill cry but only just. No attacks launched, just an effort to startle intruders, trainers like him from infiltrating Pokemon habitat. Zubat, Geodude, Boldore – cave staples of varying personalities and traits, they're all here. Klinklang, Baltoy, Sandile, some other uncommon Pokemon, he gets data on them as well. He also spots a few rare finds – Drilbur and Growlithe, the capsules of which he marks with a sticker before scanning and sending to the storage system – and for all of the differences of the Pokemon he's found, one thing remains the same: these Pokemon attack only when they're provoked, when a trainer turns on that protective, competitive switch in them and gestures to catch them with a Pokeball. They're never the first to launch an Earth Power attack, or even fire off a Confuse Ray when they see a trainer with his hands dropped to his sides. They're the same as the Pokemon Kyungsoo met too many years ago, before the war, back in Sinyuk-ri.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and chuckles. Maybe the real war is finally over. Maybe they can finally get some peace.

Maybe the mission is finally over.

Some five, ten more minutes, and he finally gets the slightest glimpse of light filtering from outside. He doesn't leave until a few more minutes, though, after feeling the walls for some evolution stones that haven't been collected after mining or even items that past trainers have thrown away or left behind in exchange for lighter cargo. He stuffs them inside his bag and dusts himself off before pushing himself up on his feet, before standing upright again. Facing the exit now, he can only see a faint image of a huge arc marking the entrance to the city, but that doesn't matter. There's something to look forward to once he reaches the city, after all, something that will make traveling all those miles and scaling jagged passes despite still recovering from a nasty injury – or several – worth it.

He takes a deep breath and clenches his hands into tight fists.

He doesn't look back.

↠

Gangneung-si isn't the easiest place to navigate when you're limping on one foot. The blocks are big, too far apart, and the streets are wide. The signages look like they've seen better days, and Kyungsoo's positive the sea breeze is partly to blame – he's seen the same happen before in Sinyuki-ri. Even after spending so many years, practically his entire life, in the island, it was still easy to get lost if you were in the company of people who breathed out distraction and coaxed you to breathe the same in. "So we draw on them," he recalls Sunyoung saying, as well, as she tugged Baekhyun by the wrist and gestured for him to give her a boost so she could reach the street sign closest to their house. Or Baekhyun's. Or Kyungsoo's. The boundaries began to blur when they were six; each house was also the other's home. There are no doodles on the signages here, though, no mark of a kid who'd tried to rewrite the map or maybe even change the world just by writing a different name on a street sign. And there's no sign of Baekhyun anywhere, either, not in all the blocks Kyungsoo has traveled in his quest for the biggest Pokemon Center in the city.

I know I said I'd find you, but at least make it easy, he wants to tell Baekhyun, but what gives? Baekhyun isn't around, isn't within an earshot, isn't even on the phone. He swallows down the words, then, and crosses a block, then another, and another, until he spots a familiar white building capped with a red roof, a Pokeball sign at front, and sliding doors making it possible to see right through and see who's inside.

Two more steps, and Kyungsoo snorts. He can taste a hint of salt and metal in his mouth. And he had nothing but berry soup this morning. "Not here, either," he whispers to himself, then, and swings the door forward, pushes it hard until he feels the strain in his arms, his legs. Until he feels the strain on the small of his back where Baekhyun had rested his hand on yesterday and made sure, through the slow and broad strokes of his fingers, that Kyungsoo wasn't hurting anywhere other than in the chest with them pulling each other close in their room in the Pokemon Center and pushing each other apart in equal amounts.

His body gives a tiny jerk at the same time that he feels something buzz against his skin. The light at the corner of his PokeGear is glowing a bright green, which means– "Oh, mail." He'd been too caught up in walking earlier to check, too busy trying to not think about the pain at the back of his knees and instead thinking of sitting in one of the plush couches in the Center. Leaning back, caving in. He drops his gaze to his PokeGear, then, scrolling through the notifications once he gets settled. There are a few reminders for a system update on both the Gear and the Dex, then two emails – one from Minseok and the other from Professor Kwon. Both of them are checking with him, but Minseok's sounds a bit less concerned and more amused. _Cobalion came knocking at my door around two hours ago and I couldn't help but think that he saw you on your way to Gangneung. Did you?_ Minseok was asking, and Kyungsoo's curt reply is, _Saw Cobalion and two other Swords – a green one and a brown one. Can you send some data over, hyung?_ He makes sure to add a smiley at the end, a star, then a heart. Maybe Minseok will think Baekhyun had hacked into his phone and replied on his behalf but _who the hell cares?_ You need to do that sometimes, do things you normally won't. And Kyungsoo also knows that for all of Minseok's laziness when it comes to typing emoticons, he actually enjoys receiving them.

His phone goes off another time. It's not an email, though, because when Kyungsoo refreshes his inbox, he doesn't find any new items on the list. He pulls down the pane again, then, and when he sees Baekhyun's name jump out at him in big, bold characters, he takes a deep breath.

Four messages, each of them logged on his phone an hour apart. It's almost as if Baekhyun had scheduled when these would get sent, thought about each message, each line, _each word_ thoroughly from the time he had to leave Chuncheon-si up until the time when he had to begin his gym challenge. Kyungsoo shakes his head at the thought, moving his head from side to side instead of just sitting there and letting the wicked grin on his lips take control of his body. Then he leans back in his seat even more. He doesn't give in to the weird, twisting sensation in his stomach, not yet, but he does pull up the messages one by one, taking time to read each chunk of text like he's hanging by a thread – thin, feeble, weak.

 _God, Gangneung's leader isn't playing around!! O__O,_ the first reads. The second, coming in long after the topic has ceased to be relevant, _BUT!! I managed to win and earn a badge so yay for badge #4!_ And then there's an entire chunk of text with nothing but smileys and emoticons and sound effects that Kyungsoo never thought humans were capable of producing. It's so easy to imagine Baekhyun making all those tiny noises, though. He doesn't even have to close his eyes. All he has to do is to stare at the message long enough until the beats come to him one by one. Baekhyun's always making music, after all, whether he's walking or talking or just sitting still, breathing. Every inch of him is vibrating with life.

 _Hey, you're on your way to Gangneung, right?,_ says the third one, void of smileys this time and with proper punctuation. And then the fourth, the shortest of them all but packing the most punch, hitting him square on the chest and making him take a deep, rattling breath, _Kyung...soo?_

 _Reception was bad in the mountain, sorry,_ he types faster than he can think of doing anything else. It's silly, how a message as curt and simple as that can make him operate on auto-pilot. He feels like one of those teenagers he once laughed at when he was still in Sinyuk-ri because _who the hell_ gets all worked up over two syllables? It's not normal. And it isn't supposed to be funny. It's alarming, _frightening_ knowing that someone has the ability to tweak your mood, change it up with just a snap of a finger, a simple message sent through the Gear system.

He hits the 'send' button a bit too early, kicks himself at the back of his head. Clicks his tongue, too, because here Baekhyun is, trying to reach out and holding out his hand with the knowledge that Kyungsoo might never reach over to meet him halfway. So he keeps typing, explains, _and I didn't get good reception until now. Really sorry..._ And then, after a heartbeat, _Where are you?_

His Gear sounds off within the next minute, and he bolts upright at the sudden burst of sound. _Ah, I thought you wouldn't keep your promise,_ Baekhyun replies. There's a smiley attached to the end of the message, but it isn't like one of Baekhyun's usual intricate emoticons. It's just a colon and a parenthesis, nothing else. Just two dots and a curved brace that shouldn't even be making his insides turn. It's just a fucking smiley, he tells himself, don’t let it bog you down so much, _little Do._ So he waits for the next message, the answer to the ‘where’ he’d posed earlier, Baekhyun letting out that final huff of relief that he’d kept inside of him during those two hours Kyungsoo hadn’t been replying. But nothing comes – not for the next five minutes, or the next ten, but just before time passes the fifteen-minute mark his Gear sounds off again in a tone he’s only ever associated with being summoned by Professor Kwon.

Not another mission, a voice murmurs at the back of his mind. A deep breath, then he drops his gaze to the display of the Gear from where he's been writing down notes on the new Pokemon he's caught. He'll need to change up his roster a bit, maybe train his Pokemon just a bit harder to make sure no one is falling behind in terms of battling and generally being able to take hits and dish out powerful attacks right back. Maybe he should try to go back and review the past matches he's had against gym leaders, especially that one match with Minseok that could have not swung in his favor. "Pokemon _is_ sort of a game of luck–" he remembers Minseok mentioning after that match, talking about Kyungsoo's Grovyle managing to slow down Mamoswine by crushing the ice around it and nailing that one Leech Seed that mattered. “–but the mark of a good trainer is being able to minimize those chances, if not control them, so that you can turn a luck-based battle into a skill-based match. _Then_ there won't be any dirty plays that all of us don't like to see. Then you'll really, really be able to say that you won your match fair and square."

And maybe he should be answering the call on his Gear because he can feel Gardevoir's Pokeball shake in his belt now as if reminding him that _hey,_ someone's calling you. It's rude not to answer unless you don't like the person calling you up. And – his brain stops for a moment when he draws his gaze to the display and finds Baekhyun’s contact card flashing on the screen – you _don't not like_ Baekhyun, right? He presses the green 'call' button, then, and draws the receiver close to his lips. "Hey."

"You have to stop doing that, y'know," Baekhyun groans. "Freaks the fuck out of me." Kyungsoo laughs, shakes his head, mutters at the back of his mind instead of into the receiver, now you know what having to wait on the other side of the call feels. Now you know how this brand of torture can kill people. _Now you know._ He keeps it there, though, just bottled up inside him, and pushes it down as soon as he hears the next set of words from Baekhyun. "And I've just reached.. Pyeongchang? Yeah. Wanted to catch some new Pokemon but now that you're there in Gangneung, I can always–"

"No, it's fine. Just... keep walking," Kyungsoo answers. He feels for one of the Pokeballs on his belt and taps a beat, unfamiliar, sort of unrhythmic. It doesn't sound anything like the steady thumping in his chest. He can't recognize it at all. He catches Baekhyun humming on the other end of the line, so he traps the sound before it thins into white noise and crackles in his ears. And then there's silence, nothing but a thick sheet of silence, making a traitorous cold wrap around Kyungsoo's neck in a tight grip. He shivers. "There's already been so many delays, as it is. I'll catch up with you eventually."

Baekhyun snorts. "You're not a cause of delay."

 _This_ is what I was fearing, Kyungsoo wants to say. They've only affirmed to each other that yes, they _are_ more than just very good friends. They're special, one-of-a-kind. They might even hold each other closer to their hearts than their own Pokemon. They haven't even kissed yet as two adults who know what the light nip on the lip means, or what the long, drawn lick along the bottom lip is trying to say. They've only just taken the leap; they haven't even gotten to the final destination yet and yet _here they are,_ so easily magnetized to each other. Gravitating to each other’s space in a blink of an eye. What more if they finally slide their mouths together for a kiss? He says none of those, though, keeps them all in his head as he rushes, "Thanks. But I mean there's no telling when the next attack will be so we better make the most of our time and try to get as many badges as possible–"

"And spend more time together because _there's no telling when the next attack will be,_ yeah," Baekhyun counters, scoffing this time. Kyungsoo can picture it now, the look on Baekhyun's face as he drops the words one by one – he'd press his lips into a thin, thin line, and then he'd frown. Then he'd roll his eyes and huff and lean back against the wall and throw his head back. He'd close his eyes. And then he’d smile because Baekhyun found it too hard to stay sad or mad for too long. Kyungsoo shuts his eyes for a while, sinking into the cushion yet again. It feels a bit colder than usual, but then that might just be his body talking. It's close to autumn now and he's still wearing mostly summer clothes and he has to get used to the feeling of not having Baekhyun's warmth pressed to his side again. Layers upon layers of change, the one thing he's afraid of. Too many chains of both his past and his present wrapped around his ankles, his wrists, and keeping him from just letting go of his apprehensions and _living._

"Besides," Baekhyun adds after a while, breaking the thin sheet of silence between them. Kyungsoo's body gives a little jerk in response. "I can easily fly back to Gangneung. Altaria's not kicking me off its back anymore. I guess that battle in the Rocket hideout really helped? I mean–“ Baekhyun's laughing now, bright but not as shrill, like he isn't sure yet if he should be laughing but he's letting the sensation take over him, anyway. Kyungsoo smiles a little at that, nonetheless, breathes out more easily and feels for Sableye and Vulpix's capsules clipped to his belt. They'll have to sit out the next few battles. There's nothing wrong about a bit of change, after all. This one should work in his favor. "So you won't hear about a trainer getting falling from the sky while his Pokemon's flying him from one place to another–"

"Not funny," Kyungsoo mutters, then blows air into the receiver as an act of rebellion. He can feel the strain in one corner of his lips, though, can still feel a dull ache in his right cheek from where he's smiling more. He shrugs that off. "Seriously, you have to train your Altaria–"

"Hey, relax, I was just kidding," Baekhyun says, interrupting, then chuckles for the quickest second. Then he's quiet again, the white noise that they've already broken minutes ago settling back in place and dangling between them through the phone lines. It worries Kyungsoo for a moment, until Baekhyun clears his throat and begins to speak, this time in a softer, quieter voice. "But hey, you're... actually not afraid of showing concern now. Really touching." There's a lilt in his voice, in the way the last few syllables curl and tumble from his lips like he hasn't rehearsed this, hasn't ever prepared for this in all the years that they've known each other. "Makes me feel a bit loved."

Kyungsoo gulps hard. Licks his lips, as well, like if he ever took his time wetting the corners of his mouth then Baekhyun would probably stop anticipating an answer. He won't. Baekhyun will always want to hear from him, especially at a time like this. So he mutters, before he can even think of pulling back, "You are," rushes when he hears a soft _oh_ spill from Baekhyun's lips, "I'll find you, I promise."

A heartbeat, then, "Go, do your gym promise. I'll be waiting."

On the line, Kyungsoo almost wants to ask something along the lines of, _why, because you’re getting bored with everyone and you need your rival back? Because you miss me?_ He almost wants to tease, but _no, not yet,_ a voice at the back of his mind whispers. So instead, he just laughs into the receiver and answers, "And I'll win."

"You do that,” Baekhyun says as a vote of confidence. Kyungsoo can hear the smile in Baekhyun’s voice. It makes his stomach lurch. It’s a good lurch, though. "You do that and make me proud."

↠

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath as soon as he steps inside Gangeung-si's gym. It's the fourth time he's passed these gold pillars capped by gold Pokeballs on top of each and he trained his Pokemon for three hours straight yesterday afternoon before having one quick match in the evening, but he still feels like a like a first timer whenever he sets foot in a gym. Like a kid who's been given a Pokeball for the very first time and he's asking, what is this for? What does this do? How am I supposed to leave a mark on history with this? The dome is almost always too big, and the walls feel like they're caging in on him and hoping to choke all the air out of his lungs. The ceilings are too high, make it easy for any trainer to feel like the entire place is much, much larger than it should be. And the lighting is almost always ominous, eerie. It's a different scenario once the gym leader steps into the battle area for an introduction, a handshake, but even then the path to the main arena sets the mood well enough that by the time he comes face-to-face with the gym leader, half of him already wants to either curl up in a corner or leave. The other half is still testing the waters, sensing if he's courageous enough to choose three Pokemon to send to battle or if he's just wasted a good chunk of his time convincing himself that he's worthy of this fourth badge.

The lights flicker for a moment. He gulps down hard, balls his hands into light fists and stuffs them in his pockets. He seethes when he feels his knuckles brush against the rough material of his pants. With autumn just around the corner, he's switched from wearing shorts all the time to pants, and it's taking longer than the usual for his body to ease into the change in wardrobe, in his attire. After all, when he was still in Sinyuk-ri, he could always head out into the beach with a blanket draped all over his body and still wear shorts and a threadbare shirt underneath. Sometimes he'd wear one of those long coats, as well, the type that reached up until his ankles and helped keep his bare calves warm even if he was wearing shorts meant for summer–

"Didn't think you'd come on time. My apologies for being late," comes a voice, soft and mellifluous, booming in the arena and bouncing off of its walls. The ground gives a little shake, and the next thing Kyungsoo know he's falling to the ground and pressing his palms to the surface as hard as he can in an effort to not suffer a most embarrassing crash. What the hell, he wants to say, but he manages to push those words down his throat, instead gaping at the Pokemon rising from beneath the rubble. It looks like a Pokemon, at least, but Kyungsoo hasn't seen anything quite like this before. It has the body of a tortoise and a small tree branching out from a side of its shell, and a small patch of what seems to be soil at the foot of the tree. Opposite the tree – is that Oak? It looks like Oak – lies three stony spears breaking from the surface of the shell. And then Kyungsoo sees it – the Pokemon's eyes, it's jaws, spears shooting out from either side of its face. Two pairs of feet covered in a rich shade of green that help keep it steady on the ground even as the Pokemin scales the pile of rubble and transports its trainer – Gangneung-si's gym leader – to a safer part of the gym, just a few feet from where Kyungsoo is. "Did you wait long?"

"Not... much," Kyungsoo whispers in response. He still has his eyes on the big Pokemon towering over the mess it has made. It looks a bit familiar now. He remembers seeing it in one of Professor Oak's shows, alongside Piplup and that tiny Chimchar. Professor Kwon was right beside Professor Oak then, asking him about the characteristics of these 'starter Pokemon' available to those residing in the northern regions of South Korea. _Torterra,_ that's the Pokemon's name – Turtwig's final evolution, the only Pokemon that has been discovered thus far being part grass and part ground type.

 _And what does that mean?_ says a voice at the back of his mind. It sounds a lot like Seungsoo. Seungsoo's the only one who ever gives him Pokemon lectures outside of school. _C'mon, tiny Soo, what does it mean when you encounter a Pokemon whose type combination is grass and ground?_

Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk as he blinks a few more times at the Torterra, then shifts his gaze to the gym leader. "I haven't seen a Torterra this big before. It looks much bigger than most Torterra you see in shows and books," he says. He summons his best smile, then, and clasps his hands in front of him before giving the gym leader a bow. "My apologies for skipping introductions. I'm Do Kyungsoo from Mokpo-si and I'm here to challenge your gym."

The gym leader giggles, then soon eases into light laughter. "Do away with the formalities, please. I doubt you're much younger that I am," he says, then extends a hand in Kyungsoo's direction. Wiggles his fingers, as well, as if that will make the gap in the years any thinner. Kyungsoo goes with it, anyway, tries to catch the gym leader's fingers between his pinky and his thumb and slots their hands together in a nice, snug fit. The gym leader hums at that, gives him a nice, appreciative little grin as soon as their fingers brush. "Cho Jino, ground-type specialist. Nice to meet another trainer from Mokpo-si. I had a challenger from your place just two days ago. Wrecked my gym pretty well, I'd say." He chuckles, then lets out a long and loud exhale. "Should I expect the same from you?"

Kyungsoo parts his lips to speak. He can easily say 'yes' without another thought, but it feels a bit strange to be talking with a gym leader at such a familiar level. If there's anything that can help him ease into the situation, it's the age. _It's definitely the age._ He was comfortable with both Jinki and Joonmyun because he already knew them from his life as an island dweller back in Sinyuk-ri. It took a while for him to warm up to Minseok, but even then the turning point of their friendship had to be having to work together to save the city from a rampaging Snorlax _and_ a panicked Cobalion. Life and death situations like those make it easy to welcome people into your life, make it _acceptable_ to just give up, give in, and be a bit more giving to strangers you won't normally converse with. He knows that. He almost misses the adrenaline rush of having to move from one injured Pokemon to another, misses the feeling of relief when a severely wounded Pokemon wakes up from its deep slumber thanks to hours of rest and the berry solution he made. He misses being forced into that mode where he absolutely needs to let people pull themselves into his life so that he can improve on them, make their lives better. Save their Pokemon and make friends once the administration of the serum is already a success not because he wants to but he has no choice but to just let them in. It's a bit inconvenient, having to care for so many people, but convenient, just the same, having so many channels of communication that you can tap into should there be a need for it. It's the type of occasional inconvenience he won't mind being bugged with every so often.

So he laughs a little, smiles, takes in the features of the gym leader – of _Jino_ – and files it at the back of his mind. He remembers where he's first seen this face now – five years ago, during one of the Pokemon World Championships. It was Jino's last year in the Seniors division and he was up against Aaron Traylor who was still reeling from his Junior's division win the previous year. He only had one Pokemon left – Garchomp, if Kyungsoo remembers correctly – against the rest of Aaron's team, yet he still emerged as the winner through a sick mix of luck and skill. So he's not just the youngest member of the Pokemon League – he might as well be one of the youngest Champions the world has ever seen. He hasn't seen any luck in the Masters division, the most prestigious and competitive of them all, just yet, but he's getting there. And if the League awarded him the title of 'ground-type master' then he can't be just good; he's the best at tapping the fullest potential of ground-type Pokemon.

Looks like Growlithe's sitting this out, he mutters to himself. Would have been great against Torterra but the partial ground typing is scaring him away from using a fast yet defensive fire-type attacker. When he realizes Jino's still staring at him, waiting for an answer or maybe looking for an opening, he says, "That you'll just have to find out."

"You two said almost the same thing. It's pretty scary," Jino replies. He laughs a little, then recalls Torterra back into its Pokeball. Takes a step back, as well, and slots the other Pokeballs in his belt pack on the system scanner but doesn't quite select his roster yet. "Did you guys go through the same program or something? Or did Professor Kwon have you memorize a book on how to say things _the Mokpo-si way?_ "

That's silly, he almost says. He manages to bite the inside of his cheek and choke down the sound at the very last minute, though. Instead, he answers, "Mind link," then retreats to his side of the field. "Are there any special rules to be followed in your gym, leader Jino–"

"Just Jino. The title takes the fun out of the game," Jino says. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows for a moment and leans back but gives in, anyway, succumbs to Jino's request and asks the same question that Jino only answers with, "Doubles, best of three. I hope you read up on that before coming to the gym."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath. He's read about the doubles battling format before before, has seen a handful of matches on his brother's computer and sometimes on television prior to the war hitting them and taking down everything important to them, on the off chance that Seungsoo allowed him to stay up past twelve midnight. Singles battles are easy – trainers go into battle with a full party of six and send out Pokemon one by one in the hope of defeating all six of the other trainer's before the other's gets defeated. Some trainers play around with entry hazards, stones on the floor, toxic spikes ready to poison your Pokemon whenever you switch a new one in, but that's it. You're only supposed to take down one Pokemon at a time. _Just one._ In a doubles format, however, you only bring four Pokemon with you and send out two Pokemon at a time. So you can't just have your Pokemon use a particular move knowing that its ally Pokemon will get hurt, as well. You can't just think of how one of your Pokemon matches up with the other – you have to think about what your opponent will do when you send out these two Pokemon in combination versus another duo. There are too many things to consider. Kyungsoo recalls giving up trying to understand how the format works at some point, but he's been trying to digest the concept of doubles battles again ever since he picked up his Pokemon license.

"I'm just kidding," Jino reveals after a while, chuckling as he shakes his head. "Though when I mentioned to your friend that we can use the doubles format, he seemed pretty excited–"

"Did you?" Kyungsoo says, interrupting. He curls in his fingers into a tight, tight fist, breath hitching when he feels his nails digging into his skin. He shivers. "I mean did you battle with him in the doubles format?"

Jino doesn't answer for a while. He just stays there, head tilted to the side, eyes narrowed just slightly and lips parted, but he doesn't speak. Only a few seconds after does he make a sound, chuckling before he says, "Why does it matter? If I say yes, will you want to give it a shot?" It doesn't even sound like a question. It sounds like a statement, _an accusation._ It's almost as if Jino can tell, just by the way Kyungsoo has his chin tilted up, his chest puffed out, and his lips pressed into a thin, thin line that he wants more than just a regular challenge. He wants something that will push him to the limit. He wants to _outsmart_ Baekhyun, prove to Jino that he's the better trainer from Mokpo-si. _A silly boy in love and you still can't help but want to have something to brag about to him,_ a voice at the back of his mind says, _A silly, silly boy in love miles away from his boy and you still can't fight the urge to jump at the first opportunity to be better than him._

Baekhyun told Kyungsoo to make him proud, after all. Kyungsoo's just doing his end of the deal. And maybe spicing it up a little, but Baekhyun doesn't need to know that now. He'll find out later, in an hour or so, once Kyungsoo already has his fourth gym badge secured. He'll know once Kyungsoo is another step closer to qualifying for the Pokemon League and getting the chance to defeat the strongest trainer in the country. He'll know once Kyungsoo's on equal footing with him again, standing on the same plane with the same goal in mind.

"He did," Jino mutters even before Kyungsoo can give an answer. He laughs, then shakes his head. "So run your Pokemon by the system scanner right now so we can get started," he continues after a while, then saunters to where the computer is. One by one, he slots the remaining Pokeballs in his pocket then looks up to face Kyungsoo again. "How many badges have you earned already?"

"Three," Kyungsoo replies. "This would be my fourth," he adds when he sees Jino nod. It startles laughter out of the leader, makes him shake his head a little. So he says, "I heard confidence is important when it comes to psyching oneself for a battle," looks over his shoulder before slotting his Pokeballs into the scanner. "It helps set the mood."

"Definitely. I'm pretty excited now. Haven't felt this way in a while."

"In two days?" Kyungsoo tries.

Jino laughs again. He sounds, _feels_ a lot like Joonmyun, except more relaxed when speaking with people. Joonmyun has a habit of putting on a mask when he speaks with certain people from time to time – his parents, some of his professors, one of kids of the fishermen his father used to work with when they still lived in Sinyuk-ri. His brother whose shadow he so hates hiding behind. _Sunyoung._

Kyungsoo shrugs that thought off and focuses on the match soon to unfold in front of them, the first match he'll ever be doing in the doubles format. If he loses, then he can blame not getting accustomed to the rules and the kinks of the system for his defeat. If he wins, then well and good. There's nothing to brag about – it _is_ his duty to defeat gym leaders, after all. Soon, all the Pokemon on both teams show up on the screen, the names listed side by side with an accompanying picture to make it easier to see for people with shitty eyesight. Kyungsoo's one of those.

"A cute little Growlithe and a Drilbur in the same team? Pretty risky choice. You'll want to make them sit out this match," Jino says as a warning, then wiggles his eyebrows. "Unless you're confident enough to pit a fire-type against one of my ground-type Pokemon just to give your Growlithe some battling experience. So, willing to make such a ballsy call?"

It won't be such a 'ballsy' call if having Growlithe in the team has purpose. He'd discovered, while battling the Growlithe in his party using his Pelipper, that Growlithe had the ability to make Pokemon cower in fear with it's ability, Intimidate. That can come in handy against– He shifts his gaze, checking the other side of the screen. Jino has a party of Krookodile, Dugtrio, and Hippowdon, then a Quagsire, a Torterra which isn't a surprise, and a– "A Stunfisk?" he mutters under his breath. He's never seen Stunfisk used in competitive play, much more in a gym battle. And it's for the same reason that he fears going up against it – he doesn't even know what a Stunfisk is capable of doing other than flopping around.

He gulps hard and goes through the list, again and again until he can recite the names at the back of his mind without having to refer to the list on the screen. "One more minute!" he hears Jino call out, so he runs through a couple of match ups in his head – _Sceptile can easily sweep through the entire team but who can go well with it? Gardevoir, maybe, because of the type coverage and their ability to withstand a lot of attacks with their natural bulk? Pelipper? Perlipper's definitely going to be useful against Torterra, but–_

He takes a deep, deep breath, then shuts his eyes for the quickest moment before pressing on a few buttons to make his selection. Ballsy, the word rings in his mind again and again, and at this point he can't tell if he's trying to prove Jino right or he's just crazy. But then experimentation is part of competitive battling. Each Pokemon is useful if you know how to use them. Even being at a type disadvantage against your opponent might help you in the long run. With one last look at this team, glossing over the names with his eyes and a lone finger, he presses down on the red button and takes a step back as the computer scans his selection.

Two beeps, and the words _SCAN COMPLETE. Ready to play._ appear on the screen. Kyungsoo nods in thought and thinks, shit, what the hell did I get into.

"Give me a great match, little Do," Jino calls out from the other side of the arena. And then he's tossing two Pokeballs in the air, gesturing at Kyungsoo to do the same.

One of the main differences between the doubles and the standard singles format in gym battles is that _both players_ have to summon their Pokemon at the same time in doubles. Four Pokemon out in the field all at once, called out to either attack the opposing party of to pull off fancy shenanigans that can swing the battle in one side's favor. Or sometimes just to scout for moves or potential strategies that may already show on the very first turn. Sending out one's Pokemon leads simultaneously puts neither side at advantage nor a disadvantage, though. It puts them at a dangerous standstill, an all-out staring game to see which trainer will fall to the other's bluff. And it freaks Kyungsoo out. He likes knowing exactly how to work with match ups, loves it when he has full control over the situation.

"But the only thing you can ever control in both the local League and the World Championships is your Pokemon selection after you see your opponent's roster," he recalls three-time world champion Ray Rizzo saying in an interview. And it's true – everything else is a roll of a dice, a game of luck. Kyungsoo has seen so many great players fall prey to their Pokemon getting burnt at inopportune times or low-accuracy moves hitting their Pokemon dead in the face for optimal damage. "So you try to sway things in your favor by out-predicting your opponent, by thinking three – no, actually, _four_ – steps ahead." And it makes sense, Kyungsoo muses as he watches how Hippowdon summons a strong sandstorm in the arena, and how both Sceptile and Growlithe seem to be bothered by the sand getting in their eyes whereas both Hippowdown and Quagsire seem unfazed.

Hippowdown and Quagsire cower in fear when Growlithe lets out a loud cry, a groan that sounds a lot like a roar that makes Kyungsoo shiver all over. He's only trained with Growlithe for a few hours but he's already seen what the Pokemon can do; it's just a matter of maximizing what he's discovered about his Pokemon in those few hours that they've trained together and whatever observations he can gather from how Jino's Pokemon react to his.

Sceptile swings its long tail from side to side, as if to shuck off the sand sticking to its skin, but to no avail. It only ends up almost hitting Growlithe and Growlithe quickly stepping to the side in response. Growlithe looks up at Sceptile, looks at the grass-type Pokemon with a focused gaze and gritted teeth, but Sceptile doesn't budge, doesn't even flinch. And Growlithe never really attacks other Pokemon unless it's asked to. So Kyungsoo lets out a long and loud exhale, letting the corners of his mouth tug up when he sees Growlithe face front again, recognizing Sceptile's actions as an accident and recognizing the Pokemon as its ally.

"Alright, it's showtime," he whispers under his breath. He risks a glance at Sceptile, then at Growlithe, and smiles a little when he sees his Pokemon's ears twitch, when he sees Growlithe lunge forward as it stoops low but keeps the heels of its feet pressed hard to the ground. With another deep and rattling breath, he nods, then calls out the first move to start the battle: "Sceptile, Agility, now!"

Jino leans back a little and cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo in acknowledgement. From where Kyungsoo is, he can only make out the faint upward curl on the corners of Jino's mouth, but that's it. His eyebrows aren't lifted and his cheeks aren't tense and his shoulders aren't shaking. _Nothing_ else in his features alludes to what he's thinking of making his Pokemon do. It makes Kyungsoo shiver a bit, makes his insides turn. It's the quiet ones who always carry around with them the strangest bag of tricks that always work. And it's these quiet, calm, non-reactive ones who keep the end of the game in mind and will allow themselves to be put in a very bad position because they know _exactly_ how to get back into the game. Still, he keeps his eyes on Jino, shakes his head when Growlithe looks over its shoulder to ask for a command. _No, not yet–_

"I see what you're up to–" Jino begins, and then he's grinning. All the composure he had earlier breaks when he scoffs and lets one side of his mouth tug up, up, _up,_ until he scrunches his nose a little. This isn't the trainer he met earlier, isn't the same person who'd somehow welcomed him to the Gangngeung City Gym with a soft smile and a teasing glint in his eyes. This _is_ Gangenung-si's gym leader, the trainer with an unshakeable spirit and a resolve to win tougher than any rock there is.

"Hippowdon, use Yawn, now!" Jino calls out.

With a nod of the head, Hippowdon's opening its mouth and letting out wisps of air. "Can't be good," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. Sceptile's still running around and Growlithe is staring down the Quagsire that hasn't stopped moving. Quagsire's probably the bigger threat, but then Sceptile can _easily_ knock out Quagsire with a Giga Drain–

Or maybe he shouldn't be getting too complacent with the slight type advantage because the next thing he knows, Jino's calling out to his Pokemon, "Quagsire, use Muddy Water on both Pokemon! Hippowdon, use Yawn on the other Pokemon, as well, to put it to sleep!"

Two can play the status game, Kyungsoo muses, but if he has both of his Pokemon go for a status move then it sets him back by a turn of damages. He needs to start dishing out damage to the opposing Pokemon if he wants to make full use of Growlithe's ability to lower the opposing Pokemon's attack power, especially since Jino has _two Pokemon out here_ that can potentially knock Growlithe out in a hit. Fire has never done well against both water and ground, after all. You'll never want to let your fire-type Pokemon stay in on those two types. "Growlithe, Will-o-Wisp on the Hippowdon," he calls out then, and doesn't shift his gaze from Growlithe until he sees the Pokemon's burn-inducing attack connect with the opposing Hippowdon. "Sceptile, Giga Drain on the Quagsire, _now!_ "

He hears a loud cry as soon as he drops the commands and balls his hands into fists. He watches as Sceptile emerges from a cloud of white, too fast for the normal human eyes to spot. And then the next thing he knows, Sceptile's wrapping its tail around Quagsire's body, tightening its hold on the Pokemon before biting down on the side of its neck. It takes a while for the pain to kick in – one, two, three seconds, four, _then five_ , and only then does Quagsire scream, only then does the opposing Pokemon flail its arms about in retaliation. Kyungsoo keeps his eyes glued to this scene and takes in every bit of detail about the Pokemon out on the field right now – having the sandstorm brewing is making it a bit difficult for his Sceptile to keep sucking energy from Quagsire's body, Quagsire unable to dish out damage with the way Sceptile has it trapped in its tightening grip. Growlithe's having some difficulty in landing the Will-o-Wisp attack with the sand blowing in its face but it manages to nail its attack, anyway, causing Hippowdon to fall to the ground and grimace in pain.

Turn one, he notes – they're only on their first turn and yet both of Jino's Pokemon have already taken lots of damage from his own. Growlithe and Sceptile are taking damage from the weather condition Hippowdon has set, but that's it – what would have been a powerful Muddy Water attack from Quagsire never managed to hit them both and send Growlithe back to its Pokeball in very low health.

"I like the mix of offense and defense!" Jino calls out from the other side of the arena, then gives him a salute. He tries to mimic it, acknowledging Jino's clever plan in return, but he never gets the chance to because Jino's shifting his gaze to his Pokemon again and recalling Hippowdon back to its Pokeball. "I'll need your ability later. Go, Stunfisk!"

Kyungsoo gulps down hard and presses down on Pelipper's Pokeball in his belt, clipping it back to where it was earlier. He hasn't seen Stunfisk used that much in any tournament or even in exhibition matches, but if there's something worth noting about Stunfisk is that it's the only Pokemon in existence to sport a ground and electric type combination. It makes switching in Pelipper to conserve his Growlithe's energy really, really tricky, because who even knows the offensive potential that Stunfisk has? He knows it can attack using Thunderbolt, Thunder, Earth Power, maybe, like most electric and ground-types, but there are so many other options that its typing allows it to achieve – immunity to electric-type attacks, the ability to use one of the more trickier moves, 'Discharge', while attacking to get a higher chance of paralyzing the opponent. _Kyungsoo's Pokemon._ "And I don't want to take a paralysis to the face," he mutters as Stunfisk tries to move on the ground, lifting itself up so it can see its opponents better.

And it won't mindlessly attack its ally in the process because ground _only ever absorbs electricity_ and swallows it whole until the energy dissipates into thin air, another voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. He watches as Stunfisk's body glows in a bright yellow, as the Pokemon lets out a soft cry and creates tiny slivers of lightning all around it. It takes a while for the energy wrapped around the Pokemon to wash it out completely, though, and Kyungsoo takes that as an opportunity to rework his strategy, try to think of something better. Figure out a better time to switch Pelipper in so he can use Scald on the opposing Pokemon for a chance to burn them–

"Sceptile, keep at it!" he tells the Pokemon, then cranes his neck to look for Growlithe. From where he is, he catches Jino grinning, catches the way Jino gives his shoulders a light shrug and crosses his arms over his chest. Jino takes a step closer to the arena. Kyungsoo inches away when he feels the sand whip on his arm, leaving a dull ache on his skin. Jino doesn't seem to be too bothered by the sandstorm, though, doesn't even seem to be bothered by the situation. His Quagsire's close to being knocked out but he still looks as if he _knows_ he's going to win, no questions asked. It makes Kyungsoo shiver, makes him want to walk over to where Jino is to grab him by the shoulders and shake him as he says, what the _hell_ are you thinking of doing?

Quagsire finally manages to break free from Sceptile's hold and fires a water-type attack straight to Sceptile's body in an effort to push it away. It doesn't _look_ like Scald, though, Kyungsoo notes. He blinks a few times, trying to see better, but _no_. "There should be some smoke coming out," he mutters, then sucks in his bottom lip as he tries to go through all the water-types he studied in the past. Not Hydro Pump; it lacks the power. Not Water Gun, either; there's too much power in the attack Quagsire has launched and Water Gun _never_ makes the Pokemon it has made contact with wobble and then plummet to the ground, face first–

Jino snorts. Kyungsoo hears it, loud and bright, despite the steady sound of sand breaking the thick sheets of wind all around them. "Will-o-Wisp on the Stunfisk _again,_ Growlithe!" he calls out, but doesn't tear his gaze from Sceptile just yet. Its body gives a tiny jerk, then another, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows Sceptile's already hitting itself with its tail. "Fucking Water Pulse, that's what it is," he groans. He shakes his head. To Jino, he calls out, "What is this, a status battle?"

"You started it with your burns!" Jino replies, laughing. "I just thought I'd return the favor because it seemed fun and–"

"Use your own style, c'mon!"

"But this _is_ my style," Jino argues. The corners of his lips curl up in a sly smile. Kyungsoo shivers all over. "I take what the opponent does and do it better. _Ten times better._ "

And he's a gym leader for a very good reason, Kyungsoo muses as he watches his Sceptile writhe on the ground. Sceptile hasn't been weakened that much yet, not by a long mile, but all the damage from confusion will eventually stack up and might bring Sceptile's health to a range where a Thunderbolt from Stunfisk can take it out in one hit. Heck, for all he knows Quagsire knows how to use Ice Beam and might use it against Sceptile to take it out in a nice, clean hit. Part of him wants to believe that his Sceptile's safe from Quagsire because if Quagsire really did carry Ice Beam with it then Jino would have used it already even before Sceptile landed Giga Drain on Quagsire. Jino wouldn't have let his Quagsire take so much damage from a health-draining attack that will only help Sceptile regain its energy.

But Jino might be one of those crazy dramatic gym leaders who prefer seeing their Pokemon rise from the ashes or something close to that. Maybe that's how Jino teaches his Pokemon, molds them to be tougher versions of themselves – by making them go through all these trying battles and urging them to make a comeback from such a deadly position.

"Sceptile, return!" Kyungsoo calls out, then, tossing the Pokeball in the Pokemon's direction. A flash of red light envelops Sceptile, and then it's back in its capsule, safe inside the Pokeball where it can rest up a little and maybe evaluate its performance in the battle. Kyungsoo draws the Pokeball close to his chest, whispers, "I'll need you later," like his voice can permeate the thick walls of the capsule. Maybe it can, because soon the capsule is shaking a little and making it nigh impossible for Kyungsoo to clip it back to his belt. Even as a Treecko, patience isn't a trait that Sceptile possessed. And it's something that Kyungsoo is certain Gardevoir has. "Gardevoir, help me out!"

He tosses Gardevoir's Pokeball in the air and out comes the fairy, twirling on one foot and letting its long white dress dance in the air before standing firmly in place. It looks over its shoulder, at Kyungsoo, only for the briefest of moments, then it's nodding as it's already understood what it's supposed to do – stay calm, focused, practice patience. Whittle down the opponents' health to a range where both Pelipper and Sceptile can easily knock them out with one clean hit. Kyungsoo voices out the order, nonetheless, following standard battle rules, and says, "Use Calm Mind!" at the same time that Jino withdraws his Quagsire. He laughs a little, smirks – he read that one right. If he'd ordered Gardevoir to attack Quagsire with Psychic then Hippowdon would be the one taking the attack after Jino has just switched it in. And he knows better than to waste a turn on not affecting a dark-type Pokemon like Hippowdon with a psychic-type attack, after all.

"Nice read," Jino calls out from the other end of the arena.

"Nice play," Kyungsoo replies, chuckling. "Nice, but obvious."

Jino does this little pout that makes him look more of a kid battling for the first time than an experienced gym leader, then shuts his eyes. "I promise not to make obvious plays ever again!" he says, then, faking a sob, then bursts into the brightest smile he's worn since the start of the match. Too quick, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. Jino's Pokemon may be some of the slowest in the entire PokeDex but there's no doubt that the ground-type master is quick – to think of a way to turn things around, to turn an unfortunate event into something favorable. To switch from full offense to solid defense and then into a nice mix of both when he tells his Hippowdon to attack using Earthquake to hit Growlithe for super-effective damage.

"Shit," Kyungsoo grumbles, then shakes his head. He recalls Growlithe to its capsule faster than Hippowdon can stomp its feet on the ground and sends out Pelipper a bit too early. "Pelipper, Scald on the Stunfisk!" he calls out, not shifting his gaze from the Pokemon until Pelipper acknowledges him with a nod. To Gardevoir, he says, "Dazzling Gleam, now!"

Jino leans back a little and furrows his eyebrows. That's how it looks like, at least, from where Kyungsoo is, and _shit_ , he should get a replacement for his glasses after this because the sand keeps drawing lines on the surface of the lenses. At this rate, all he'll be seeing is lines upon lines of cracked glass. The world isn't supposed to look that way. He squints his eyes to try to see Jino better, to try to get a read of the opposing trainer and the next move. Jino should be going for a different attack with his Pokemon now. Earthquake won't hit a flying-type like Pelipper, after all. And Stunfisk looks as if it's in great pain with the way it's been twitching and tossing on the ground after taking – and while still taking – the brunt force of Pelipper's Scald attack _then_ an Icy Wind attack to the top of its head. He can take advantage of the big damage dealt, the speed drop on both Stunfisk and Hippowdon, and go for another Dazzling Gleam to take out Stunfisk, but–

He cranes his neck, trying to get a better glimpse of Hippowdon, then shifts his gaze to the damage counters projected on the screen. Hippowdon didn't even take much from the Dazzling Gleam attack – only about 25% of its health on the first hit? Maybe even less. It's hard to tell with the burn damage slowly whittling down Hippowdon's health, as well. The attack took out a good 20% off of Stunfisk's health. Decent, but not enough to scare the Pokemon off and keep it from making bold attacks. He shakes his head. The defenses of these Pokemon are off the charts, and if the damage roll for the next two turns won't be in his favor then he'll have to switch Pelipper out if he wants his Pokemon to stick around for a turn longer.

"You're overthinking your moves!" Jino tells him, voice trailing off to faint laughter. It makes Kyungsoo shiver a little, makes his throat tighten around nothing in particular. He checks his Pokemon – Pelipper's still at it with the Icy Wind but the beams of ice aren't as forceful anymore. Gardevoir's shielding its eyes from the sand. "Hippowdon, Stone Edge on the Pelipper, _now!_ "

Kyungsoo sucks in a deep, rattling breath. Stone Edge is the most powerful rock-type attack in existence, and even with its laughable accuracy there's still a huge chance that it can connect with a Pelipper who's been slowed down by both damage from the sandstorm that had kicked up again the moment Hippowdon was sent out on the field once more. He's seen the attack take down so many Pokemon in the league, a powerful Charizard, an Arcanine, Lapras despite its respectable defenses, Gyarados after taking a good chunk of damage from being attacked by another Pokemon. If this connects with Pelipper, Pelipper's sure to fall to the ground and get knocked out in a nice, clean hit.

Dodge, he tries to tell Pelipper, but the Pokemon has already slowed down. And it's difficult to fly with sand getting between Pelipper's feathers. Unless– "Pelipper, fly higher!"

Pelipper doesn't even question his trainer's orders and soars high above the sandstorm scoring wounds on its wings. Hippowdon lets out a loud cry and stomps harder on the ground, sending pillars of stones rising from the surface, and– _Shit, quick, fly higher!_ Kyungsoo almost screams. Pelipper is quick, wicked fast, and for all of Hippowdon's lack of speed in moving around, it makes up for that in the speed at which it summons more rocks to burst from the ground. And Jino's quick, as well – when he senses that Stone Edge won't work, he changes things up and calls out, "Rock Slide on the Pelipper, go!"

With a shrill scream, Hippowdon summons rocks of all sizes from above. Pebbles, boulders, the type of stones that you try to make jump on the water – the Pokemon calls forth all those and sends them crashing down on Pelipper. Kyungsoo clasps his hands together, draws them near to his chest. Mutters under his breath, "Please let him dodge. I need Pelipper to dodge those boulders, dammit–" until he remembers Gardevoir who's taken upon itself to use Calm Mind again to increase both its offensive power and defensive capabilities while still waiting for an attack. So Kyungsoo tries to clear his mind, tries to reach Gardevoir even with the thickening gap between them and whispers, wait a little longer, Gardevoir. No, not yet. _Wait for Pelipper to take a nose dive then swerve up and then hit the two Pokemon with–_

Gardevoir looks over its shoulder and meets Kyungsoo's gaze. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows, stunned for a moment. Gardevoir has never looked at him longer than five seconds during battle, after all. Soon, he hears a voice at the back of his mind, cold yet familiar, like the whistling wind. And then he sees it, flashes of memories dating back to when he was still in Sinyuk-ri, that moment when he and Seungsoo paddled as fast as they could to get away from the island, that time when Baekhyun took his hand and a portion of his heart, as well, the time when he used his body to shield Ralts from harm and promised, even without speaking, that he was going to protect Ralts for the rest of his days. Come what may.

Then his body gives a tiny jerk, making him lean back as he resurfaces. Pelipper's inching closer to the ground. Jino's just ordered Hippowdon to try to use Stone Edge again and even orders Stunfisk to use Thunderbolt on Pelipper. Double-targetting Pelipper, that's how big of a threat it is, but Jino's forgetting that there's one other Pokemon on the field.

He takes a deep breath, then splays his fingers on the left side of his chest. "Gardevoir, mega evolve!" he says, then curls his fingers into a loose fist. "Now!"

He braces himself for the ripping sensation he always gets when Gardevoir mega evolves. It's been getting easier with practice, not as painful anymore but just as rocky a trip down memory lane. Every attempt at mega evolving takes him places – Sinyuk-ri, Jeju-do, somewhere in the ocean with Seungsoo doing the paddling and Kyungsoo sticking his face too close to the water to check if there are any fish they can lure in. Along the beach, running with both Baekhyun and Sunyoung. On Baekhyun's bed, lying flat on his back with Baekhyun curled up against him. Every single place he's been to. Now it's the desert near Muan-gun where he bumped into Baekhyun and found Baekhyun cradling a Pokemon in his arms. The same desert they ploughed through just to get to a guest house where they can try to nurse their Pokemon back to health and just sit beside each other without saying a word.

He opens his eyes and feels a violent breath of life flush into his lungs. It almost makes him choke on his own spit, makes him want to throw up, but when the glow that once wrapped around Gardevoir's body dissipates into flecks of light he gets a hold of his senses again.

Good job, he says at the back his mind. He tries to smile through the tightening sensation in his chest. He can hear Gardevoir – _Mega_ Gardevoir – chuckling in his ears. Gardevoir hasn't even budged yet, isn't even parting its lips to speak. He shifts his gaze to the oncoming Pelipper, then, squints his eyes as he watches Pelipper inch even closer to the ground – three feet, two feet, one and a half– "Now, Gardevoir, Dazzling Gleam!" he screams. "Fly up again, Pelipper, and use Hurricane to make the sandstorm stop!"

It's a risky move, he knows it, having two powerful attacks happen at the same time in an enclosed space. Hurricane is one of the most powerful flying-type attacks, and with Gardevoir now in it's mega evolved form Dazzling Gleam is no longer an attack that isn't as frightening as it should be. They've had practice similar to this a few times already, though, where Kyungsoo made all his Pokemon do target shooting with their most powerful moves. After all, what is power without accuracy? What do you do with an attack that can end a battle in a blink of an eye when you can't even make it land on the opposing Pokemon? They've spent many sleepless nights doing this that it's almost robotic how Gardevoir adjusts to the powerful winds Pelipper's creating – Gardevoir getting down on one knee and pressing its palms to the ground, holding itself up while firing off a powerful attack as it cries out–

"That's not Dazzling Gleam," Kyungsoo whispers under his breath. This isn't the same move they've been practicing for months – this one's more powerful, more destructive. Gardevoir's entire body is aglow and the blast of energy that spills from its body isn't coming from its hands or its eyes – it's coming from that cry. Yet it hits Hippowdon with much force, pushing the health bar further to the left until all that's left is a sliver of health, pulls Hippowdon's health from green to a glaring red that soon disappears completely when Hippowdon takes damage from the burn that Growlithe had inflicted on it. "What the hell is that–"

Another shrill cry, and then it clicks – _Hyper Voice,_ of course. It can't be anything else. "Gardevoir changes its ability when it mega evolves," he recalls Professor Kwon telling him – or was it Minseok who'd given him the information? "Pixilate, its new ability, allows Gardevoir to turn _any_ normal-type attack into a fairy-type attack."

"So let's say it knows Pound–"

"Who even uses Pound these days?" Soojung had said then. Kyungsoo cocked an eyebrow at her in response. "Right, let's say you've actually retained Pound on your Gardevoir, _cool._ Go on–"

" _So let's say_ it knows..." Kyungsoo'd scoured his memory for normal-type attacks he'd learned in school. Non-contact attacks worked best for Gardevoir, so he continues, "Let's say it knows Hyper Voice. If Mega Gardevoir attacks using the normal-type Hyper Voice then–"

"The powerful attack changes its type from normal to fairy, yes," Professor Kwon affirmed. She nodded, gave him a smile, then parted her lips to speak. "Use that knowledge well."

Hippowdon's knees give a little shake, then it's falling to the ground at the same time that Stunfisk does. Stunfisk lets out one last shrill cry, though, and fires off a powerful electric-type attack that manages to catch Pelipper mid-flight as it slows down in flying. Kyungsoo holds his breath, clenches his fists. Keeps tightening them until he can feel his fingers again. For a moment he thinks Pelipper will come crashing to the ground, fainting to that – "Thunder," Kyungsoo whispers. No way in hell can that be a Thunderbolt with all the damage that it's dealing onto Pelipper – attack while still in flight, but Pelipper keeps flapping its wings, keeps flying around in dizzying circles and then pushing the funnel of wind to the ground by firing quick Air Slashes to its corners.

Two heartbeats, then the sandstorm is gone. Another, and Pelipper's slowly falling to the ground, weakly flapping its wings in an effort to stay afloat. "Return–" Kyungsoo almost says, but Gardevoir holds up one hand in Kyungsoo's direction and shakes its head. Soon, Gardevoir's teleporting to where Pelipper is – a few meters off the ground – then appears in a puff of smoke back on the ground, rolling on the field with Pelipper in its arms.

Pelipper lets out a faint cry, then bumps its beak against Gardevoir's cheek. It's Pelipper-language for a 'thank you', maybe even 'you're my savior' or a kiss, but one thing's for sure – Gardevoir's shrugging Pelipper off while laughing, a wicked grin tugging up at the corners of the fairy Pokemon as it helps its ally get the sand out from between its feathers.

"Silly Pokemon," Kyungsoo whispers, shaking his head. He cranes his neck, then, searching for the gaze of both Pokemon, then nods at Pelipper as if to say, take a break. I'll need you later. You've already done enough. _I'm proud of you. And you, too, Gardevoir._

"I must say, I'm pretty impressed," Jino says. Laughter still bubbles on his lips, spilling from the corners in slivers. He shakes his head. "Thunderbolt was sure to knock out your Pelipper in a hit. What happened? Did you... train your Pokemon to withstand attacks like that?"

"I did the same thing that you did," he replies. He chuckles, then cocks his head in the direction of the Hippowdon on the field, now trying to get back on its feet despite no longer being fit to battle. "Your Hippowdon's equipped with an Assault Vest, isn't it? There's no way it could have survived Gardevoir's attacks for that long a time without the help of that item. And the first turn was a bluff – Quagsire was the only one who attacked with Yawn. Your Hippowdon was already shaking up the ground in preparation for an Earthquake attack."

Jino lifts his eyebrows, eyes widening in accord, then lets out a loud huff. " _Sharp,_ " he begins, then stuffs his hands in his pockets. "Most trainers don't know their damage calcs. I'm surprised you actually kept track of it throughout the battle. But _yes,_ that was a bluff. Won't be able to use status moves with an Assault Vest equipped to my Pokemon."

Yeah, I should know, he almost says, but pushes the thought to the back of his head. When he passed by Seoul, he had the chance to buy a handful of items for his Pokemon and decided on buying something for Pelipper that can help it survive longer. Scald and Icy Wind are nice attacks to have at one's disposal during important matches, after all, and if he wants to have more chances to use those moves then Pelipper has to take attacks better than it usually would. He recalls his Pelipper to its capsule, then, pressing the button at the middle to activate the beam that will reel Pelipper back in and then clipping the Pokeball to his belt as soon as the capsule stops shaking. "I got lucky with the Stone Edge, though."

Jino shrugs. "That's what you get for using a low-accuracy move, really. Though you _did_ get lucky when Pelipper managed to dodge some of the rocks. I didn't expect that."

"You were expecting a flinch, hmm?"

Jino presses his lips together in a thin, thin line, then makes a zipping motion as he lets his fingers hover. "Not gonna give anything away 'til you beat me, trainer."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then cracks his knuckles. A few feet away, he can see Gardevoir nodding at him. "I'll wrap this up in a few minutes, then," he says, more to tease than to threaten. Jino's only response is light laughter, a shake of the head. "Get ready."

'A few minutes' means a good seventeen minutes of trying to sway chances to each other's favor. Jino sends out Torterra and Quagsire and his last Pokemon, and Kyungsoo summons Growlithe again to try to suppress Torterra's attacking prowess with an Intimidate and a Will-o-Wisp. Growlithe misses the attack the first time around and dashes far away from Torterra when Kyungsoo calls out, "Dodge the Earthquake. It's coming!" Gardevoir goes for the save, then, attacking the two Pokemon with a powerful Hyper Voice that knocks out Quagsire once and for all and takes a good 40% off of Torterra's health. Torterra's Wood Hammer attack connects with Gardevoir, though, and Kyungsoo can only watch as Gardevoir falls to its knees, as Gardevoir lets out a sharp cry that makes him shiver all over.

Torterra's health goes down by at least another fifteen percent. Kyungsoo blinks a few times, trying to scour his knowledge for damage calculations, any information at all on the damage Torterra can do to his Pokemon. "Recoil damage from the attack itself plus Life Orb damage," he whispers to himself as he pieces everything together – the big damage output, Torterra suffering the effects of landing such a powerful attack and knocking out a Pokemon. Gardevoir going down in one hit when in fact it can withstand even the most powerful of attacks from the steel-type Pokemon it has faced in Odaesan on their way to Gangneung-si. "A chunk of health for an ounce of power."

"I can hear you taking notes!" Jino calls out, waving his hands in the air. Without sand blocking the view, Kyungsoo can see Jino better now, can spot the fatigue in his features and the way his cheeks are tugged up in a tight and tense smile. He's feeling the loss, Kyungsoo's certain – one more Wood Hammer attack and Torterra will go down with another of Kyungsoo's Pokemon. And if Jino ever goes with a different attack, one that won't make his Pokemon take recoil damage, Torterra will suffer the side effects of the power boost from the Life Orb it's equipped with – a chunk of health taken away from it with every forceful attack it lands on a Pokemon on the field. "I thought you were going to take me down _in a few minutes?_ "

For a second, Kyungsoo considers saying 'shut up', but _no,_ he tells himself. Bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from saying something he'll regret. Jino's still a member of the League and the last thing he wants is to brush off a gym leader with the words 'shut up'. It would be the lamest mistake he'll ever commit. So instead, he says, "I'm on it!" and summons his Gardevoir back to its Pokeball, pressing the capsule close to his chest before clipping it back to his belt. "Okay, Pelipper, your turn!"

Jino hums, chuckles, laughs. Cackles, even. "That's more like it!" he says, then cracks his neck. His gaze is more focused than ever. "I was just getting started!"

Two more exchanges of attacks, and then it’s over: Kyungsoo switches Growlithe out for his Sceptile, hoping to be able to put Growlithe’s ability to good use for another time. Torterra attacks with a powerful Rock Slide, though, and connects with both Pokemon, sending Pelipper falling to the ground and making Sceptile flinch at the force of the attack. Jino pumps his fist in the air at the lucky flinch but doesn’t quite lose focus, because when Kyungsoo sends out Growlithe for the very last time, he says without even thinking twice or holding back, “Attack with everything you’ve got, Torterra! Use Earthquake, now!” So Kyungsoo capitalizes on his Pokemon’s strengths – bulk and speed – and orders Sceptile to fire off the most powerful Giga Drain on Torterra so Growlithe can secure a win with its Heat Wave attack. He crosses his fingers that his Pokemon may fire off their attacks faster than the force of the shaking of the ground can take them down and turn his one and only win condition into Jino’s own. Holds in his breath and keeps it all in, left of his chest, until all he can hear is the heavy thumping against his rib cage, the shaking of the ground, the pulse at the back of his ears.

The force of all the attacks combined swallows the entire field in a thick cloud of smoke. Kyungsoo shields his eyes for a moment, coughs when he mistakenly takes in a deep breath. He feels more sand than skin on his face now, but he still tries to open his eyes, tries to see the result of the match – who’s on the ground, who’s still standing, where the hell is the score board because that’s the only way to determine who the real winner is – but to no avail. He sees nothing beyond the thick blanket of smoke all around them, only gets the faintest hint of two shadows still standing on the field. So he waits – for the smoke to lift, for the silhouettes to turn into real figures, for life to breathe color back into the black shapes just beneath the thick sheet of white. He tries to curl his fingers in a tight first but he’s fast losing all the feeling in his joints, his knuckles, his knees, his ankles when a strong wind blows from _wherever,_ he can’t be assed to try to figure out anymore–

Two steps, light and stuttered, then a dull thud on the floor. Then the smoke thins, dissipating into an air easier to breath in, revealing Growlithe on the ground, flat on its belly, and Sceptile down on one knee.

He gulps hard, then looks around for Torterra. Instead, he sees the small smile on Jino’s lips, easy at the corners but still reaching his eyes to bring back the tiny glint of _something_ that Kyungsoo saw earlier, when he’d first seen Jino atop Torterra.

Then Torterra falls to ground.


	6. a crack in time and space: trouble sizzles in pohang-si!

Kyungsoo stretches out on the bed, throwing his arms above his head then to the sides. He barely misses the lamp on the bedside table but he _does_ end up having his nails catch on the cloth of the shade of the lamp. It makes him seethe, makes him shiver. It wakes him up, as well, when he feels the burning sensation of his nails being pulled _against_ skin. It _fucking_ hurts. When was the last time he even thought of cutting his nails? After earning his first badge in Jeonju-si? Or was it after landing in Pyeongtaek-si coming from the distant Tokchok Islands? He can't even recall the last time he _saw_ a nail clipper, or even scissors used for cutting hair. He can always summon Sceptile and ask it – in the nicest way possible, because even after raising the Pokemon with love and care Sceptile _still_ gives him issues with its attitude – to trim his hair, but with all the traveling and battling and _trying to save the world_ that he’s been doing, it's become impossible to sit still and think of doing something for himself. He doesn't have that luxury, _isn't_ allowed that luxury anymore. All the free time he has, he devotes to training his Pokemon, forming tighter bonds with them. Helping them reach their fullest potential. Only when they get some rest is he able to take a break of his own.

He blinks a few times and stares at the ceiling. Too bright, he grumbles to himself. Too early, as well, he notes when he shifts his gaze to the wall clock near the door. It's only five in the morning and the roads leading to and from the city don't open until six, but he tries to push himself off the bed, anyway. He heard in the news last night that the government has begun to take action against midnight poaching in different provinces and cities, and even some weird – 'shady,' he recalls the newscaster saying – activities being discovered in districts across the country. He snorts at that, even laughs a little. The thieves can always use their Pokemon to fly. Roadblocks are just another path to creativity. If they want something so badly then they _will_ find ways to get them.

"Too early, too early," he whispers to himself, then slaps his cheeks in an effort to stay awake. He can always sleep in for a few more minutes, but you can never go wrong with trying to use the kitchen in the Center early. He gets dibs on the fresh deliveries and even gets to use the pans first. Some trainers don't know how to do the dishes properly. Some don't even know how to _not_ burn food.

" _Stop thinking too much,_ " he tells himself another time, then gets up once and for all. His knees still feel a bit wobbly, but they're better now than they were yesterday. Heck, he's never felt stronger. It makes his insides turn a little, but in a good way. It makes him feel a bit hopeful. _Just a bit._

Growlithe comes bursting from its Pokeball not more than two minutes after and curls up at his feet for the quickest second. He shivers at the sudden rush of warmth, at Growlithe's soft fur brushing against his skin, but soon Growlithe's getting up and nipping on one leg of his pants and pulling him forward. Like it's telling him, _hey, trainer, you have to feed me! The cuddling isn't for free!_ Or maybe even, _your Gardevoir got me into guarding duty so make it easier for me to do my job, c'mon–_ Last night, he saw his Pokemon convening right after he'd 'tucked himself in bed'. He had one eye open; the other was stubborn, wouldn't let him stay awake for much longer. And Gardevoir and Sceptile looked like they handing out assignments to the members of the party, telling each and every single one of them what to do. _Growlithe's in charge of the morning duty because Kyungsoo can't start the fire easily in the morning. And she can help Kyungsoo with that. Pelipper's the one who'll transition between morning and afternoon because he's the only one who can handle the intense heat. Drilbur, just stay put and stop drilling holes into everything!_ It makes his chest feel full, makes his heart jump a little, but it's a good kind of leap. The same kind of feeling that hit him when he saw Treecko for the first time, or when Ralts looked up at him with a small smile despite being so hurt and drained from the Spearow attack. The same kind of feeling that washed over him when Baekhyun took his hands before leaving, drew them close to his lips as he whispered, "You could've just let me take care of you, y'know, but I know you hate that so–"

A kiss to Kyungsoo's knuckles, then a slow-forming smile tracing lazy patterns on Kyungsoo's skin where Baekhyun pressed his cheek to. "See you when I see you?"

"I'll find you," Kyungsoo repeated, possibly for the nth time, but smiled, anyway. When Baekhyun leaned back but didn't quite pull away yet, he pressed his lips where Baekhyun's once were. "I promise, I will."

He spends the next few minutes in the kitchen, slicing berries he'd collected the night before to make berry soup – _yummier than the one you make,_ he'd texted Baekhyun earlier before washing the berries – and maybe fresh salad on the side. The Center's stock of vegetables has just been replenished some five, ten minutes ago and some meat came in as well so _maybe_ he can make stew. Might be a good idea; his Pokemon have been craving _anything_ that isn’t berry soup these past few days. It will be a long trip, after all, one he plans to seek Pelipper's help on instead of just walking all the way to Pohang-si from where he is right now. He can still feel the dull ache in his knees and in his ankles, but it's more manageable now that he can stand for longer periods of time. Last night he stayed at the back of the Center, just listening to Sunyoung and Soojung banter on the other end of the line about who had the better match against Minseok, for at least thirty minutes. After that, he called up Baekhyun, asked where he was, if he'd already arrived at Pohang-si. "Was the travel not rough?" Baekhyun just hummed in response for a full fifteen seconds, then he was letting slip nervous laughter from his lips.

"It feels _so weird_ having you call me instead me calling you and–"

"Don't ruin it, Byun."

"I'm just saying!" Baekhyun was laughing in earnest now, coughing from time to time whenever the bubbles of giggles crawled up the wrong exit. It sounded like a snort sometimes. It was endearing. And that was a secret Kyungsoo swore to take to the grave. "It's the first time we're not talking about war stuff and it just feels–"

Feels weird, was what Kyungsoo was expecting. Instead, Baekhyun continued, "–it feels so nice. Really, really nice. I... kinda like it."

He shakes his head now and laughs a little. If Baekhyun were already awake then he'd probably be receiving a call from him right now. Baekhyun's voice would be the rhythm he slices berries to. And Baekhyun would complain about that being morbid, "Possibly the worst thing you can ever tell someone you like, really. Makes you sound murderous." And then they'd forget how they even reached that part of the conversation. It happened before – once, on the beach, after one of their big exams. While everyone was out and traveling to the metropolis or even going for a hike because it's _finally_ spring break, they decided to stay in each other's company and just sat on the beach, legs crossed. Baekhyun joked about bringing soju but in the end he only brought fruit juice that his mother made. It was the next best thing. They sat there for a good hour or two, went inside for lunch, then headed back to the beach. They just kept talking until sundown. And when they got back to their houses, they kept each other on the line for another two hours. Somehow it was impossible to run out of things to talk about with Baekhyun. Baekhyun made the most mundane of things seem so interesting. And he made Kyungsoo smile. Hardly anyone outside the family and Kyungsoo's Pokemon was capable of that.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then tosses the chopped berries into a sauce pan. He should get to boiling these. His Pokemon will be awake any second, he just knows it. Growlithe needs playmates to entertain itself with. And they all know what that means – more running around and less actually training with the Pokemon. More having fun than getting a bit too serious with the things that they should be doing.

"'Mornin'," comes Baekhyun's greeting at nine in the morning, voice still thick with sleep and a bit of fatigue even with the telephone lines crackling his tone. Kyungsoo already has his sleeves rolled up, finally done with the dishes and off to train Growlithe a bit on focus training, but he allows himself to let the corners of his mouth curl up at that, anyway, gives himself the leisure of letting his heart leap a little before crouching low to ruffle Growlithe's fur. "You should've woken me up, y'know. I told you I wanted to get on the road by seven," Baekhyun says – more like _grumbles_ into the receiver, but the lilt in Baekhyun's voice gives him away. Kyungsoo catches it, clear as crystal, and latches onto that, letting a wave of warmth wash over him despite the cool autumn winds out here in Gangneung-si. It’s finally autumn now. It’s almost as if the seasons were just waiting for Kyungsoo to give up on holding his feelings back before settling in. "But now it's nine and I'm late for all the good things in life and I'm a _disaster–_ "

"Roads didn't open until seven, according to the news. Half past the hour for some. The exit to Yeongju-si was still closed at eight," Kyungsoo says, chuckling. He gestures at Sceptile, mouths at it to say _Leaf Storm on the trees, then have Growlithe aim at each leaf with a Will-o-Wisp_. To Gardevoir, he says at the back of his mind as he shakes his head, _no helping the baby. I'm serious, Gardevoir. It has to learn the hard way._ "So even if you wanted to be on the road by seven–"

"Why are they opening at different times? Doesn't make sense."

Kyungsoo shrugs, forgetting for a moment that Baekhyun can't see him. He snorts after a while, then, and says, "No idea. Pretty weird." He kicks at the ground for a bit, more to regain the feeling in his numbing calves than anything else, but instead he gets this strange, lurching sensation – not just in his stomach but in _every part of his body._ Sort of like he's suddenly falling from his seat and tumbling forward, rolling on the ground until he bumps into a log.

He takes a sharp, violent breath. Looks around him for the quickest second and checks his Pokemon, then drops his gaze to the blinking light on his PokeGear. For a moment, he thinks he's reading the time wrong – how the hell is the Gear displaying '7:39 a.m.' as the time when it's already way past the hour? And then everything's going blissfully black for a second, two, three, _Kyungsoo, are you still on the line– What the hell's happening–_

His body gives a tiny jerk. Two blinks and then he's breathing again. It's ten minutes past nine in the morning. His Pokemon are safe and sound and still doing target practice. One tree is on fire and Growlithe's running the opposite direction of the flames in an effort to make the fire go out. Sceptile's laughing in the distance, and Gardevoir has its hands on his hips and is lifting Growlithe off the ground, then looking over its shoulder and at Kyungsoo with a focused gaze.

And he can hear Baekhyun’s unsteady breathing on the other end of the line, heavy and ragged. He can hear the loud thumping in his chest, at the back of his ears. His chest tightens; his throat constricts. He balls his hands into tight fists. "Did you _feel_ that?" Baekhyun asks, voice cracking a little, and this time Kyungsoo doesn't even bother voicing out the strangest thing that had happened to him just a few minutes ago. It feels familiar, though, like having to take the brunt power of Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voice during training, or even getting a foot crushed under the weight of Sceptile's tail.

It's the same ripping sensation that he always gets when linking with Gardevoir's thoughts and memories, the same pain that sticks to his skin during mega evolution and even long after he's tried to bring out that untapped potential in Gardevoir to make it stronger than it already is.

He presses his lips close to the receiver of the PokeGear and breathes out noisily, letting all the fear and worry out. And when he feels his lips again, he answers Baekhyun in a soft, faint voice like he can't believe what might possibly be happening, "I did. I felt everything."

↔

Pohang-si is a good two or three 'Seoul's' away from Gangneung-si. There's no straight path to the city, no possible way to just hop from one route to another without having to duck into a cave or even taking flight, so Kyungsoo only walks the path a third of the way. He ends up at the other end of Sobaeksan, then, and catching three new Pokemon that he eventually sends to Professor Kwon's laboratory for examination and further studying.

"I think one of them's suffering from a nasty cold, but it wouldn't receive medication from me," Kyungsoo tells Professor Kwon now, lips pressed close to the PokeGear. "And one of them is definitely an alternate-colored Pokemon. A Shinx, if I remember correctly, professor. The lines along the edges of its hair up to are gold instead of yellow."

Professor Kwon hums, then whispers something that sounds a lot like 'reminds me of a particular trainer back in the day'. He can be wrong, though. Despite being surrounded by mountains, the winds are still blowing strong and hard, and half the time he has to brush his hair from his face lest he run into boulders that look like Geodude with their faces shoved into the ground. He keeps repeating himself to everyone he talks to, as well – Baekhyun for a good fraction of the trip, and Professor Kwon for at least fifteen minutes now since he's deposited his Pokemon to the system box. "Tell me about the manifestations of the virus, though."

He blinks a few times, then stops at the entrance of the cave in the mountain. There are two ways to go about this – he can hike and fly from up top _and_ get to Pohang-si in an hour or two, or he can take the longer cave route but be able to catch more Pokemon along the way. He can ask Gardevoir to help him stay on his feet, too. Both are viable options. But then Professor Kwon's asking him again, "Kyungsoo, how did you come to the conclusion that it was sick?" and the moment he slips inside the cave, there's a huge chance he'll lose reception–

"Its fur was purple instead of the richer blue it should be since it's an alternate-colored Pokemon," Kyungsoo says, reporting. He summons Sceptile, whispers in question when he covers the receiver of the Gear, “Do you think you can climb all the way?" Sceptile sizes up the path, turning to look back at him and answer with a slow nod. Soon, Sceptile’s shaking it’s head, though, scrunching its face in accord. That's what uncertainty does to everyone – cripple them with fear and make them forget the things they are actually capable of doing. "And it wasn't poisoned. I fed it some Pecha berry and it still wouldn’t stop… glowing in purple. Or glowing at all."

Professor Kwon hums. Kyungsoo can hear her tapping her fingers on whatever surface on the other end of the line. He gulps down hard. "Was it more... vicious?"

"Yes," he answers faster then he can call Sceptile back to its Pokeball. He recalls, as well, the way the Shinx launched an Ice Fang attack at Drilbur at the first opportunity, even before Kyungsoo had expressed any intent of capturing the Pokemon. On a normal day, no Pokemon will harm a human unless provoked. But the Shinx just went ahead and launched itself at Drilbur without another word, dug its sharp fangs into the mole Pokemon and didn't let go until the marks it had punctured on Drilbur's skin had been filled with ice. Drilbur then proceeded to shaking its entire body about, trying to get rid of Shinx, and only after a powerful shuck did Shinx’s grip come off.

Half an hour later and he still shudders at the memory, still grimaces whenever the image of Drilbur crying out loud but still trying to attack through the minor freeze flashes before his eyes. It’s almost as if his Pokemon was saying then, _I won't let this Pokemon break me down like this, master. Let me fight him. Let me teach this Shinx a lesson–_

And then he sent out a Gardevoir and ordered it to knock both Pokemon out with a Dazzling Gleam. Transported Shinx and his other catch to the nearest Pokemon Center so they could get some rest. So that Shinx can even get cured of their condition, if that’s even a possibility. And now, here he is, back on the road and on the line with Professor Kwon, chest still unbearably tight but still nowhere near his final destination.

"And I think even Drilbur has contracted the virus? He's been acting… pretty strange the whole trip," Kyungsoo confesses. He breathes out into the receiver, long and loud, then adds, "I'll send him over, as well. Could you send me Flygon in return in the mean time, professor?

"Sure. I'll get back to you with whatever updates we have on the condition. I’ll make sure to keep you posted," Professor Kwon answers, curt and brief. He can hear the worry underneath, though, the hint of concern in her voice in the way her tone shakes. He can almost hear her lips quivering, the way it did during the big earthquake that had Soojung trapped in the northern region and Baekhyun and Kyungsoo somewhere in Seoul. Her eyes were focused and void of emotion then but her lips weren't lying – she kept worrying them and kept biting the inside of her cheek in an attempt to regain full control of every part of her body. "I'm attaching a special something, by the way, I sent the same thing to the other three. It's an item that allows your Pokemon to regain a bit of health during battle. Thought it might help especially since you’ve been–"

Fighting crime and almost getting killed by doing so, Kyungsoo’s almost tempted to say, but instead he keeps mum about it. He presses his lips even more thinly together, feeling the pressure at the seams. “A good boy?” he tries, then, and laughs as soon as the last syllable spills from his lips. “Sorry, professor. I just–"

“Sort of,” Professor Kwon mutters. Two beats then she’s chuckling, letting loose faint laughter and breathing out a sigh littered with so many lilts that she could’ve been singing through them. She sounds a bit more relaxed now; it makes Kyungsoo breathe a bit more easily. “ _As I was saying,_ since you’ve been battling a lot, I thought you’d find a good use for it. It will help keep your Pokemon around a little longer, especially the more… defensive ones. Say, the Growlithe that you showed me this morning. I don't think I've seen a Growlithe built to support a team that way."

_Yeah, because you want to be different. Pssh,_ he recalls Baekhyun telling him on the phone an hour after his gym battle. Baekhyun'd asked for a full battle report, including a breakdown of Kyungsoo's team. If Kyungsoo had only know that Baekhyun would be asking for something like it, he would have recorded the entire match, maybe even streamed it through a video call. It was one of his more challenging matches, one of those kinds of battles where anything could have happened if the roll of the dice only favored Jino at that time.

_You keep wanting to impress everyone,_ Baekhyun continued after a while, humming to fill the white noise. Part of Kyungsoo liked the silence, the stillness, just hearing Baekhyun breathe. Part of him was worried about what Baekhyun was thinking of saying. You'd think that years of knowing each other will make it easier to figure people out, but _no._ Baekhyun is a mixed bag of surprises. And Kyungsoo has just learned to love the unpredictable and the unknown. _Why do you even want to do that when you've already impressed me?_

"Thank you. I'll see what I can do with it,” Kyungsoo now says in response, then tells Professor Kwon he'll have to hang up in preparation for his hike. Sceptile's a few good meters off the ground now – _see,_ Kyungsoo wants to say, _see what facing your fears does?_

Professor Kwon hesitates for a bit, a dull hum hanging from her lips, and then she's saying, "Take care, don't strain yourself. And be prepared for a new mission. We might need your help again within the week. Just giving you a heads up." Kyungsoo leans back for a while, cocking an eyebrow at the display, and for the second time that day he's thankful that Professor Kwon only ever calls for video conferences when there's more than one person that she needs to talk to. Otherwise, he'll have to be extra careful with the way he reacts, to each and every single thing his face does. And that's hard when your attention is divided between thinking of a man miles away from you and your Pokemon and a worrying Pokemon professor-cum-older sister on the line.

"Dex-related?" Kyungsoo asks after a while.

Professor Kwon snorts in response. And then, as if she's just remembered that she has an image to maintain, she clears her throat to say, "Your ability to draw in legendary Pokemon-related."

He feels the corners of his lips curl up on their own accord, feels fireworks set off at the tips of his fingers. He doesn't want a repeat of the Rocket encounter at the hideout again, not with the destruction and chaos it brought upon the region, but there's something about hunting legendary Pokemon down and trying to reach out to them that makes his senses tingle. There's something about knowing that there's still a mission to fulfil that makes him want to jump on the balls of his feet, makes him want to do cartwheels even if he's never seen any success with doing anything related to gymnastics before. A challenge, something so difficult he might run the risk of losing so he can't just let his guard down – he likes the rush that gives him, loves how the excitement takes control over his limbs that chucking a Pokeball in the air to summon a fighting partner feels more like taking flight and falling into formation with other trainers raring to battle.

Three other trainers, in particular, a voice at the back of his mind says. He gulps down hard, trying to swallow the violent upward tug on the corners of his lips, but who will see? So he lets out a faint sigh and says into the receiver, "I look forward to it," before hanging up and sending Baekhyun a quick message. It reads, _Looks like we'll be stuck with each other again. Prof has a new mission for us._

_Pssh, you just can't get enough of me ;)_

Kyungsoo doesn't answer that. Not at once, at least, because soon Sceptile is stealing all his attention with the way it's scaling the rocky wall at a crazy speed. He takes a deep breath, then, counts to ten before typing up a reply and turning off the display of his Gear. Control – that's what he needs to have right now, control over his senses and the lack of logic in his system. It's the same reason why he's been holding off on that kiss because he knows what happens when he veers from his road map, goes completely astray – he crashes, loud and hard, without any hope of survival.

_Maybe,_ he'd typed just a few seconds ago. And then on the second line, _I guess you'll just have to find out._

Scaling the mountain takes a good hour and a half with Sceptile's help. Pelipper hovers them, ready to dive should Sceptile make a wrong step or should the rocks they're holding onto ever give away, but for the most part they don't teeter on the edge of falling off the mountain or even getting off on the wrong rock. We're safe, Kyungsoo keeps repeating at the back of his mind, keeps assuring his Pokemon because he _knows_ Gardevoir is reading his thoughts without meaning to, searching for clues as to where they are and what their trainer wants to do at the top of the mountain. The view is magnificent, though – he gets a glimpse of the Gangwon region up north, then some districts in the North Gyeongsang region when he looks in the opposite direction. Maybe if he squints hard enough he'll be able to see Mokpo-si in the west, or a set of three stag-looking Pokemon if he looks a bit more to the east–

He blinks a few times as the three Pokemon scan their surroundings, craning their neck in search of something Kyungsoo can't quite figure out yet. "Cobalion?" he whispers under his breath when he inches closer, trying to get a clearer image of the blue stag standing tall just a few meters away. He drops his gaze to where Cobalion's old wound used to be, then breathes out when he doesn't find a trace of it anymore. It was a huge, nasty cut; he won't be surprised to still see a faint mark of it on Cobalion's skin, but none of that. Cobalion looks much, much better now than when they'd released it into the wild again, looks better than the last time the legendary Pokemon sped past him in the woods.

The other two Pokemon inch closer to him, then regard him with a nod. Soon, though, they're back to scanning the place, eyebrows furrowed like it will help them see through the thin fog around them. He saw them doing the same on his way to Gangneung-si from Chuncheon-si, halfway through finding his way out of the forest and taking a step closer to his next gym badge. Virizion – he learned the name from Minseok, bless the gym leader and his extensive knowledge on some ‘less popular' legendary Pokemon – was the one who'd craned its neck then, surveying the area for any sign of that thing, maybe a Pokemon or maybe even a human that it was looking for. Soon came Terrakion, the brown buffalo-looking Pokemon, and caught sight of Kyungsoo out of the corner of its eye. Threatened to attack him, even, and probably would have launched itself onto him without another word had Virizion not told it otherwise. Terrakion seems to recognize him as an ally this time around, though, no longer grinding its teeth at him even after looking at him a second time, then turns to Cobalion as it shakes its head. He feels the knot in his chest loosen, feels his throat relax a little – but only just.

"What... What are you looking for?" he asks, leaning closer, but it only drives Virizion and Terrakion back by a step, inching away from him. "I saw the three of you in the woods. You looked like you were looking for something. Maybe I can help–"

Cobalion shakes its head, then looks at both of its allies before moving closer to where Kyungsoo is. One step forward, and the ground begins to shake. Another, and Kyungsoo feels the tremors crawl under his skin and wrap around his knees. He shivers, _shudders_ , shakes all over when he feels a traitorous cold wrap around his neck and choke all the air out of his body, and that's when it happens again – the slow lurching sensation that almost feels like throwing himself off a cliff, that ripping feeling like his soul is being torn from the surface of his body. And then he’s gasping for air, falling to his knees on the rocky terrain, feeling the sharp edges of the rocks cut his skin and leave marks on his legs to remind him of this moment forever.

He blinks a few more times and sees the image of the legendary Pokemon before him– "Crackle?” he gasps out. Break? Impossible. Maybe his eyes are just screwing around with him again. He really should get a new pair of glasses. But his vision keeps breaking like all these images before him are part of a mosaic whose bigger picture he can't see yet. And the ground keeps shaking. And his PokeGear keeps ringing in that annoying yet distinct tone that he knows can only be the mark of a call from one person.

Not now, he thinks. _You can't see me like this._ But his body operates on autopilot and the next thing he feels is the pads of his fingers grazing the display of the Gear, his nails catching on the edges of the buttons. And then he hears Baekhyun's voice, steady and sound despite the images before him chopping up and breaking into too many fragments that he doesn't know how to piece together.

"Can you _feel_ that?" Baekhyun says, _screams_ on the other side of the line. Kyungsoo shuts his eyes, tries to zero in on just that so he can drown out all the noise around him – the sound of rocks crumbling, the sound of slow and tentative footsteps, the heavy thumping in his chest and his thundering pulse at the back of his ears – and takes a deep breath. Holds on to Baekhyun's next words as Baekhyun manages to add, "This isn't– It's not an earthquake. Doesn't feel like an earthquake. I mean, it feels like–"

Your bones are being broken into pieces so small and fragmented that it would be impossible to ever put yourself together again. Like getting caught between something, _literally_ getting caught between the past and the present with all these memories flashing before Kyungsoo's eyes right now – that time when Ralts saved him from drowning after he had a cramp halfway through his swim to the neighboring island, then that time when he and Sunyoung went on a hike but had to climb down twenty minutes into their journey because, "What the hell– Ah, Soo, how could you forget the sandwiches!" That one three-in-the-morning in Baekhyun's room, on Baekhyun's bed, with Baekhyun's face buried in his chest and Baekhyun telling Kyungsoo about his dreams in his sleep. That time in Odaesan when he almost thought the Growlithe he'd caught would escape from its Pokeball again and _shit,_ that was the last capsule in his bag. He couldn't have screwed things up again. _Come on, Growlithe, get in the damned ball–_

And it feels like being swept off his feet and hauled onto the back of a Pokemon as well, he realizes when the ground stops shaking and Cobalion appears right behind him to pick him up and toss him onto its back. Completely on instinct, he wraps one arm around Cobalion's neck and recalls his Pokemon with the other, snapping all the Pokeballs to his belt pack one by one. Maybe he should even take the whole belt pack and slip it inside his bag just to be sure, but _there's just no time._ Everything keeps splicing like he actually exists between two different dimensions even if the mere idea of that happening sounds stupid, even to him. So he runs a hand along the capsules for the last time, double-checking, then snakes his other arm around Cobalion. That's when they take off, making their descent at a speed he isn't even sure is safe for both humans and Pokemon alike. He can feel the wind against his face, can feel more pebbles and sand cut through his skin and stick to the already-sore and wounded parts of his legs. And he can feel Cobalion's heavy and loud heartbeat where he has his hands clasped on Cobalion's chest. The Pokemon only ever grunts at the slightest hint of pain, though, shakes off the ache with a crack of the neck but doesn’t stop in its tracks. Kyungsoo tries to clear his mind, then, reminding himself again and again that Pokemon can feel human emotions even before humans realize they're feeling them. And the last thing he wants right now is for Cobalion to sense that he's giving up on every chance of survival.

And then time stops. Or at least that's what it feels like, _looks like_ when Kyungsoo opens his eyes and looks around him only to find pebbles floating mid-air, when he sees the leaves of trees caught in the wind and _stuck there_ where they've been pulled to one side by an unstoppable force. When he sees the very little distance between where they are and where the solid ground is, when he spots Terrakion's _slowly widening_ eyes and realizes that _they're_ the only ones moving in this scene. Neither Cobalion nor Virizion who are still stuck halfway through the downhill path, but just him and Terrakion.

The first thing that occurs to him is _shit,_ this must be the work of a legendary Pokemon again. And that there's a huge possibility that Team Rocket might be behind this as well. The second, _holy shit,_ because Cobalion probably won't be able to adjust to time snapping back to its usual flow and if that happens then they'll crash to the ground with very little chance of survival.

Two beats, then he tries to curl in his fingers to restore the feeling in his hands. Another, then he reaches for Gardevoir's Pokeball in his belt pack. Hoping against hope, he tosses the ball in the air and cries out, "Use Psychic on us to get us safely to the ground!" But then the ball doesn't open, doesn't even make it halfway through its trajectory without getting caught in the standstill, as well. Dammit, _goddamit,_ groans a voice at the back of his mind. _Great, now you're going to die and you're taking a legendary Pokemon down with you. Great going, Kyungsoo!_ It sounds a lot like one of those bullies who he and Baekhyun had tried to fight off in the past, those asshole kids who didn't know anything other than to pick on Sunyoung for 'not being as pretty as the other girls'. And they fended them off eventually – two years after those evil children started teasing Sunyoung. It took a while, but they got there. So he fights that shrill voice at the back of his head, pushes it to the deepest recesses of his mind until all the hears is the sound of his own voice saying, _Gardevoir, use Psychic on us as soon as time unfreezes. You can hear me, right, Gardevoir? Don't worry, everything will be alright. All you have to do is to close your eyes and wish hard enough for things to go back to how they were– Come on, Gardevoir, fight this battle with me. Don't leave me alone–_

A crackle, just one crackle in the background, and then he feels the air whipping on his cheeks again, leaving a dull ache on his skin and everything it touches. He can feel the little rocks grazing the sides of his legs, his calves, his still aching knees. He can feel Cobalion's heart race against the press of his clasped hands to the Pokemon's chest. So he tries again, cries out louder this time, "Gardevoir, use Psychic to get us safely to the ground!" and tries to paint a clear and crisp image of Gardevoir teleporting them to safety, of him and Cobalion landing next to Terrakion, of Virizion catching up and jumping off the mountain come the last ten feet of the descent to land on the ground with relative ease.

Instead, what he gets is a shrill cry from Gardevoir, then the ring on his finger lighting up. Every vein, every knuckle, every nerve in his right hand goes wild and crazy, setting off explosions at the tips of his fingers. "Silly Pokemon," he whispers as he buries his face at the back of Cobalion's head, as he shields himself from the blinding light wrapping around Gardevoir's body and guiding it to safety. There's a louder thumping now in the press of his chest against Cobalion's body, but that's not Cobalion's pulse anymore. It's his. And he's curling in his toes as he braces himself for the impact, for the ripping sensation about to claw at his skin and his insides again, as he braces himself for the even louder cry Gardevoir will be emitting any second. It comes in a hush, though, quieter than usual, as a soft purple light envelops them in a big bubble of energy and takes them to solid ground.

And then he breathes out, long and loud, before letting his face fall forward to the back of Cobalion's head. Behind him, he can hear a rush of footsteps, then a sudden halt whose end is marked only by a dull thud just a few feet away. He can see a blur of green to his left, a blurb of white to his right. A large mass of brown in front of him broken only by the bright blue of Cobalion's fur. And he can feel the pads of his glasses digging into his skin. Then– "Hello? He–llo? Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo, are you there?"

He chokes on his own spit. Baekhyun's voice hits him like a fucking Hyper Voice to the gut. Or maybe a Hyper Beam that will render _him_ immobile for the next few minutes instead of the other way around. It's a nice, clean hit, though, one that draws the fear out of his system and flushes it out in a huff, in one huge, long breath that leaves him coughing, gasping for air. "Fuck. Yes. I'm here," he whispers into the receiver after a while. Or maybe croacks, he must have sounded like he’s croaking because _now_ Baekhyun’s humming with that particular lilt in his voice that Kyungsoo knows can only ever lead into the brightest, most beautiful peal of laughter. And then he's giggling, chuckling, _cackling_ into the mouthpiece, breathing heavily against the display as he chants like a mantra, like a prayer, an affirmation of their survival: "We're alive. We're alive. We're _alive._ "

↔

"When I said 'get ready for a new mission'," Professor Kwon begins, pausing as she shifts in her seat on the other side of the video call, "I swear I didn't mean _today._ "

Nurse Jinri walks into the room with a tray filled with all sorts of snacks and treats – kimchi, some dried fish, some kim. There's some steamed tofu and an assortment of sweet berries, as well. Further back, Kyungsoo can see a pitcher of berry juice – none of that berry soup that tastes like cough medicine anymore. He cranes his neck a bit, up until he feels the strain on the muscle lined along the slope of his neck, and spots a couple of round things that look a lot like songpyeon just beside the pitcher. It's not Chuseok anymore, though. Heck, he can't even remember the last time he went through the whole Chuseok experience – visiting relatives in distant provinces and preparing a grand feast for the entire clan included. Was it five years ago? Seven? Maybe even ten? Everything that happened before the war is a blur in his mind. There are a few chunks of memory that stick out to him like a sore thumb, though: leaving Sinyuk-ri on a boat, having to take Sunyoung to the bus terminal to see her off. Watching Baekhyun disappear around the corner when Baekhyun left for Sokcho-si and being left behind with nothing but a dull heat on his lips. Gently opening his eyes in the dead of the night one time he was over at Baekhyun’s and finding Baekhyun still awake, chin rested on clasped hands, watching him sleep. His heart skipping a beat when Baekhyun heaved a sigh and whispered in his faintest, softest voice, "Why do I even bother?"

Three knocks on the door then it swings open, revealing Baekhyun carrying another tray and Sunyoung cradling an assortment of Pokeballs in her arms. They'd had their Pokemon healed up to full health earlier just in case anything came up again in the middle of the video call. Team Rocket might just creep up from behind them or come flying by in their fancy jets, launching missiles onto little towns and then dropping the big bomb in all six metropolitan cities across the country. They'll never know. After all, the last time they dropped their defenses Team Rocket finally finished building their hideout between Sokcho-si and Gangneung-si.

Kyungsoo motions to stand from his seat, already halfway through stretching out his legs, but Baekhyun shakes his head and mouths, _chill, we're can handle this._ So he leans back against the pillow behind him, sinking into his seat and moving to his left just a bit to give some space for Baekhyun to make himself comfortable in.

On Kyungsoo's left, Soojung laughs a little. She's sporting a new gash on her cheek that matches the one on Sunyoung's shoulders. They were smack in the middle of Sobaeksan when the big quake happened; Baekhyun happened to be at the back of the Pokemon Center in Andong-si. "We were all bound to meet again, anyway," she says after a while, chuckling as she ends. "Sunyoung keeps saying she misses these two. And Soo and Baekhyun are pretty inseparable, so–"

" _Excuse me,_ I don't need him in my life," Baekhyun groans, settling on the empty space beside Kyungsoo as he does so. The smile on his lips lies, though, Kyungsoo muses. The way Baekhyun drops his hand to the narrow space between their thighs so that their pinkies can touch does, as well. Soon, Baekhyun's inching even closer and snaking his hand up Kyungsoo's thigh. Part of Kyungsoo's brain just _short-circuits;_ the other half makes him too aware of how close they are, of Baekhyun resting his chin on his shoulder, of Baekhyun's warm breath prickling his skin. "I'm a trainer capable of functioning on my own."

"Mhmm. Just not capable of making good berry mashes," Kyungsoo says.

"You like my berry mashes, though."

" _The soup,_ " Kyungsoo corrects, voice dropping to a whisper. The corners of Baekhyun's lips curl up in response. Kyungsoo shifts his gaze to that, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling even wider, from giving himself away. He can see Sunyoung looking from a corner of his eye, though, can feel the shift of Soojung's muscles just beside him. And he can feel the weight of their stare pounding at the back of his head but not quite rivalling the thrumming in his chest caused by Baekhyun's pattering pulse on his thigh. He looks to his side in full, then, cocking an eyebrow at Baekhyun – in a question, in a challenge, maybe even both. All he knows is that they might be going too fast and Kyungsoo knows better than to just step on the breaks without preamble. And that he could've easily avoided this situation if he'd just bitten his tongue before he could talk. This isn't the kind of conversation they should be having _in front of all of these people._ Sunyoung, maybe, but with Professor Kwon on the call and the threat of Team Rocket wrecking havoc again, this isn't the right time to be flirting with each other, if they even are. "It's the soup that I like."

"My soup?"

He narrows his eyes. " _Your_ soup," he says as quietly as possible, tries his hardest to lean back instead of in, to lift his gaze to Baekhyun's own and not drop it back to the swell of Baekhyun's lips. There's a tiny red scar on Baekhyun's bottom lip now; he wonders if he'll taste a mix of chocolate and blood if he licks it, swipes his tongue along the shape of Baekhyun’s mouth to wipe off that wicked grin that’s taunting him. He wonders, as he sucks in his bottom lip, how much self-control it would take to not even think of doing that at all. He leans back in his seat again, then, and looks at Professor Kwon's projection on the screen, but he keeps his palm pressed down to where Baekhyun's drumming cold fingers on his thigh. He shivers a little. "You were saying something about the recent earthquake, professor? Before these kids stepped inside?"

Baekhyun nudges him in his side in retaliation. A few feet away, he hears Sunyoung saying _hey_ more as a knee-jerk reaction than anything else. He laughs a little, without sound, just a tiny jerk of the body that makes Soojung hum beside him. When he looks at the projection again, Professor Kwon's cocking an eyebrow at him, so subtle that he wouldn't have caught it had he not squinted at her, studied her features a bit more than he should, in an effort to not give Baekhyun a stern look. A blink of an eye and then she's back, though, lips pressed into a line that's curled up at the corners. It eases the tension in her cheek muscles, makes her look a bit younger. Makes it easier for Kyungsoo to imagine her joking around with both Seungsoo and Baekbeom in school a few years back, exchanging a few laughs and maybe the occasional slap on the arm.

And then he breathes out, low and quiet, before sinking deeper in his seat. Baekhyun shifts in his position, pressing closer until their elbows bump. Kyungsoo feels a cool shudder wrap around his elbow in response, feels the sensation knock at the back of the bone thrice and make him shiver even more. It’s crazy, how his body reacts to the slightest contact with Baekhyun, how his body keeps reminding him of the things he wants but can’t have right now. And it’s just a crazy how Baekhyun manages to keep himself from tearing his gaze from Professor Kwon’s image on the screen. Kyungsoo’s the one who’s supposed to have mastered that already, not Baekhyun. Maybe Baekhyun _is_ ahead of him in this fight by leaps and bounds. Maybe Kyungsoo’s losing – this fight, his grip, his control. Maybe he’s losing his mind.

After a while, Professor Kwon says, "Ah, yes, the earthquakes.” She takes a deep breath, then continues, "Well, they're... not really earthquakes. We’ve heard back from our seismologists and they’re certain that those weren’t earthquake or even Pokemon attacks. No shifting plates or tectonic activity."

"Then what is it?" Soojung asks. She tilts her head to the side. Kyungsoo’s body gives a tiny jerk, reeling him back to this moment. He risks a glance at her and catches Soojung throwing a quick glance at him. Her eyebrows are furrowed, but she doesn't look annoyed. She looks more bothered than anything else. "If it wasn't an earthquake, then what could it have been?"

"A time and space shift," Professor Kwon answers. Baekhyun snorts at the drop of the last syllable; a few feet away, Sunyoung shoots him a stern glance. Professor Kwon doesn't seem to mind, though, laughing a little to fill the silence like she finds the concept of 'time and space shifts' ridiculous, as well. Because who wouldn't? They live in a world filled with humans and Pokemon, not magic. Even Pokemon moves and abilities sort of have a scientific explanation behind them. Kyungsoo's sure that if they just took time to figure out how the hell Gardevoir conjures a body of psychic power from concentrating all of its energy onto a single ball of aura then they'll be able to take a crack at where Pokemon draw their powers from. Maybe _he_ should start trying to unravel the secrets of Pokemon powers and try to understand attacks better. It might just make him a much better trainer than before. "I know it sounds corny and cheesy but that's what it is. We've received reports on time shifts and lapses across the country. Some saw a bit into the future, nothing more than a few hours, and some went back to the past. And then there were a handful of people seeing places _break up_ but eventually glue together again after the quakes."

Kyungsoo leans back a little. "The same thing happened to me in Soabeksan," he comments. He inches closer, then, sitting on the edge of his seat. Baekhyun drops his hand to the side and rests it on the small of Kyungsoo's back in response. He shivers a little at the sudden warmth, at the steady beating of Baekhyun's pulse on his skin. "You look in one direction and you get two different images of a place at the same time. I was seeing both the surface of the mountain _and_ the ground below in one place. And then there was a time when time seemed to have stopped?"

Professor Kwon clasps her hands together and leans forward. "Okay, go on."

"I was riding Cobalion on my way down the mountain," Kyungsoo begins, pausing only to clear his throat. He can almost feel the wind on his skin again, can almost feel the rocks and pebbles and sand scratching his arms and his legs and leaving marks there to remind him of that moment forever. And then he recalls the standstill, that moment when everything but himself and Terrakion stopped, when he saw Terrakion widen its eyes at him as if it couldn’t believe what was happening, either. He gulps down hard. "Terrakion got to solid ground first and just a few feet before we touched the ground, everything stopped for a few seconds. Five, maybe ten? Can't remember exactly, but we stopped _in mid-air._ "

Just a few feet off the ground, to be exact, in a position so dangerous they could have crashed to the ground the moment time snapped out of its trance. So maybe Terrakion _did_ surface to real time earlier than the rest of them did, but the question remains – _why?_ Why didn't Kyungsoo get suspended in the same moment as Cobalion, Virizion, and the rest of the world? Why did he have to see everything suspended in that moment? Why did he have to feel that jerk back to the actual space and time? Is it punishment for getting too involved in too many legendary encounters or even just befriending these legendary Pokemon whereas other trainers don't even get the chance to see them? Is it punishment for meddling in Team Rocket's business–

"It was caused by a Pokemon, wasn't it?" he asks now, furrowing his eyebrows as he meets Professor Kwon's gaze. The professor's first response is a quirk of an eyebrow; her second, a small smile. She leans back in her seat, and the table in front of her moves a bit. The projection shakes a little. " _Legendary Pokemon_ that Team Rocket might be after?"

" _Captured,_ " she corrects. "That Team Rocket might have already captured, that's the best way to put it." She takes a deep breath, shoulders lifting, and Kyungsoo... squints. He narrows his eyes, trying to see through that layer of defense Professor Kwon has put up in front of her again but to no avail – her cheeks aren't shaking and her eyebrows aren't tied in a tight knot and the corners of her lips are still curled up in a small, comforting smile. It's almost as if she knows how things are going to play out already, or that she has already come to terms with the fate they'll be suffering. Kyungsoo can't decide yet if he's comfortable with that; he settles for limbo, the unknown. His stomach turns. "Remember when we said we knew for sure that there are at least three other Rocket hideouts in the country? That we've managed to shut down two before you and Baekhyun blew up the third? We found the last two already. We've pinned the location of the remaining hideouts and the tunnels that have been dug from those two _leading to Seoul._ Problem is, we can't find the entrance."

"Because of the time and space shifting," Baekhyun mumbles.

"Yes. And no," Professor Kwon answers. She shifts in her seat again and sits upright, inching closer to the camera this time. "Because the moment we spot them on the radar, they disappear. The basic structure is still there but beyond the figure, _just the figure_ of the hideouts, we can't see a thing. It's almost as if those places are just... I don't know, links to another dimension? Possibly? That's something we're looking into at the moment. And what we need from the four of you right now is research. Tons of research and data. Pokemon data is good, yes, because then we might be able to extract a few notes on how the shifts have affected the Pokemon, but what we need right now is even the slightest clue as to where the entrance really is. Can be a crack on the wall or a fresh trail footsteps – I trust your judgment on this one. My only request is for you to do this as _discreetly as possible._ I won't even keep Pohang's gym leader or even Pohang's Finest in the loop. I'm not... comfortable sharing information with anyone from the government at the moment."

Nurse Jinri laughs a little, then takes a sip of her berry juice. She'd gone around and distributed glasses of it earlier; Kyungsoo's almost forgotten about the food in front of them because of the entire mission. "I wouldn't trust the police too much. You know the government: the people there have a lot of secrets," she says, voice almost dropping to a whisper. Professor Kwon responds with light laughter, a snort. A shake of the head but her eyes still on Nurse Jinri as the nurse says, "Whereas the Centers are controlled by your group. So you're safe here, _all of you,_ " she continues. "There's no safer place in any city or town or even the smallest of villages than a Pokemon Center. Your safety and your Pokemon's is our top priority."

But what if Team Rocket begins to control the Centers? What if Team Rocket infiltrates Professor Kwon's camps? _What if?_ Kyungsoo swallows hard, curls in his fingers but doesn't ball them into tight fists. Instead, he tries to breathe out, breathe more easily, and shifts his hand atop Baekhyun's just a bit so that his fingers are slotted between Baekhyun's own.

Baekhyun's breath hitches. He doesn't look to his side, though, doesn't meet Kyungsoo's eyes or even try to get Kyungsoo's attention. Instead, he just stays there, doesn't question Kyungsoo's actions or even the thundering pulse on Kyungsoo's palm against his skin.

"Oh wait, isn't he the one who's friends with Seoul's gym leader?" Sunyoung adds after a while, raising a hand in accord. She doesn't drop it yet but she does start curling in her fingers. Splays them out when she sees her knuckles give a tiny shake as she keeps her hand in the air a little longer. Then she’s wiggling her fingers again, like shucking off uncertainty is that easy. It makes Kyungsoo's throat tighten just a bit. "Minseok-oppa mentioned something about two weird characters in the Pokemon League and I distinctly remember him talking about those two leaders – the guys from Seoul and Pohang. He said something about them avoiding... public engagements with the other members of the League unless they _really_ had to be there?"

"Kim Jongdae," Kyungsoo says. "Seoul's leader is Kim Jongdae. The guy who reportedly does shady things in the powerplant."

"And Pohang's gym leader is Park Chanyeol, according to the file we have here," Professor Kwon comments. She holds a folder in front of her, disappearing behind the thick sheet of paper as she draws everyone’s attention to whatever she’s about to show them. Kyungsoo can hear her turn the pages, can hear the scratch of nails against paper when Professor Kwon moves even closer to the camera. If she inches even closer, he'll be able to make out the characters written near the bottom of the folder. They probably don't mean anything important, just a label for a file whose contents they’re already aware of, but it’s always good to get extra information that they might find a use for in the future. "Cute kid. Granted, this was taken five years or so ago, but look–"

Professor Kwon flips the folder over and reveals the image of the man, this 'Park Chanyeol' who's supposed to be Pohang-si's gym leader. Almost everyone leans closer – everyone, save for Nurse Jinri who's pursing her lips and hasn't stopped handing out snacks to everyone because nobody's touching anything on the table. She sneaks a glance at the man's picture, though, hovers for a moment, and then she's back to distributing snacks like she's just seen a friend from high school who she doesn't even want to remember anymore.

"The eyes look familiar," Baekhyun comments after a while. Kyungsoo looks at Baekhyun for a quick second. Part of him wants to ask 'so which of your boys is he, huh', but then Baekhyun's a changed man. He isn't the same boy he was years ago who approached one girl after another and teased them a little, cracked jokes at them, but ultimately still had the biggest crush on Joonmyun and looked up to him even more than he did his brother. Things have changed and so has Baekhyun... a little. There are still parts of him that have stuck through the years, things about Baekhyun that Kyungsoo will forever have memorized like the back of his hand. And when he _does_ finally focus his gaze back to the image Professor Kwon is showing them, the same words tumble from his lips. The guy isn't just _familiar;_ Kyungsoo's certain he's seen this man in the recent past. A tall gay who wears his hair past his shoulders, a tall guy with a weird, sort of lopsided smile. A tall guy whose clothes have seen better days but whose smile somehow manages to help him pull off the look. He _has_ seen this man in Seoul. It's the same guy who introduced him to mega evolution, the same guy who gave him both the key stone on his ring _and_ the Gardevoirite that Kirlia was able to find a use for later on.

"Where did you see him?" Kyungsoo asks, nonetheless. His facial recognition skills aren't really shabby, but it doesn't hurt to make sure. "Park Chanyeol, I mean – where did you last see him–"

Baekhyun sucks in his bottom lip for the quickest moment, then he's blowing out a puff of air. It tickles Kyungsoo a bit, prickles his skin and almost makes his breath hitch. "Not sure. I can't really remember," Baekhyun begins, pausing only to worry his bottom lip again. "But I'm pretty sure it was recent."

"A week ago? A month?"

"More or less," Baekhyun replies, shrugging. He keeps flitting his eyes, though, keeps trying to drum a beat on Kyungsoo's back before snaking his hand all the way around and pulling Kyungsoo closer by the waist. Their noses almost bump and Kyungsoo almost whispers _what the actual fuck,_ but he's too busy deciphering this look, Baekhyun's cool fingers digging into his side, the light quiver of Baekhyun's lips. He doesn't know this yet, and even if he does he hasn't seen it in a long, long while. "Does it even matter?"

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows and leans in a little, close enough that he could be licking the shell of Baekhyun's ear if he wanted to. He closes his eyes for a second and scans his memory for that familiar pair of eyes, the way they're crinkled at the corners, and the way they make his stomach leap in a not-so-good way. He only gets glimpses of scenes, though – running along a long corridor and dodging debris, then looking up to meet those eyes. _Flash,_ and then he's in a room where the air is so thick and suffocating. When he looks to his left, Baekhyun's there, pounding at his chest, wounded all over. _Flash,_ and then he's craning his neck so he can see what's inside the dimly lit room better, so he can make out the faces of the people who might need help in getting out from this deep cave where they are two floors underground.

_Flash,_ and then he's making eye contact with the guy who has those eyes. _Flash,_ then he sees the rest of his face that isn’t covered with a mask, recalls the wicked grin that always, always, _always_ accompanies that bright eye-smile. _Flash,_ and then his body's giving a tiny jerk at the same time that Baekhyun tightens his hold on him, fingers digging into his side.

"Seoul or Sokcho?"

Baekhyun leans back a little, snorting. " _What?_ "

"Where did you see the guy, in Seoul or in Sokcho?"

Baekhyun blinks once, twice, bites his bottom on the third time. "Sokcho, I think. Maybe even both," he says, quiet and faint, almost like a whisper, then adds, "More like _Gangneung._ Yeah, saw those eyes in Gangneung. You know where exactly."

"But he was wearing a mask then, right?"

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. He parts his lips a little, one corner of his mouth tugging up while the other one moves the opposite side. He looks silly with expression in his features. And he seems afraid with the way his fingers keep growing cold where he's holding Kyungsoo tight. "Which is why _I'm not sure,_ " he mutters soon after, and then he's looking around them – at Soojung just over Kyungsoo's shoulder, then at Sunyoung. At Nurse Jinri who's closer to the projection on the screen than she is to the rest of the group. "But before he left with the electric guy, I'm pretty sure he took off the mask. I mean, we probably would've remembered if we weren't close to dying already but– "

"We saw the guy," Kyungsoo confesses, turning to Professor Kwon. He presses his lips together in a thin, thin line. It's a baseless accusation as far as guesses go since they don't have proof with them _right now_ , but if he and Baekhyun both remember the same thing, the same eyes, the same maniacal grin that went with that blazing gaze then there's a very slim chance of them mistaking this guy for someone else. Besides, you don't just forget the face of the man who almost killed you, the way he looked at you with so much joy while you were bleeding like he'd just won the lottery, bought a new car, saved the world. "Back in the Rocket hideout in Gangneung. We don't have pictures with us and the guy was wearing a mask but there's no mistaking those eyes."

Professor Kwon looks at the image of the man on the file, then meets Kyungsoo's gaze again. "One of the Grunts?"

Kyungsoo parts his lips to answer, to explain, but soon Baekhyun's speaking on his behalf, letting the words he'd been keeping at bay spill from his lips and holding Kyungsoo even tighter with his cool, cool fingers.

"The one who captured the genies, Prof," Baekhyun answers, voice cracking a little as it peaks. He takes a deep breath then continues, “The one we should be fearing and looking out for."

↔

Kyungsoo pushes himself off of Pelipper and lands back on solid ground on two feet. He groans, teeters backward, pressing his palms down on the Pokemon in an effort to keep his balance. In the end, though, it's his calves and thighs that give away, his ankles that make him seethe and shiver all over at the onset of pain wrapping around them. Two hours of flying from Andong-si to the smaller but not much safer city of Pohang has left him with a dull ache in his legs and his ankles from where he’d been accidentally bumping the bones into the sides of Pelipper's hard beak from time to time. He yelps, then, almost screams when he feels himself slipping, but Pelipper's quick to save him from falling on his ass with a swipe of its wing.

"Thanks, buddy," he whispers, then grips his knees tight. He's supposed to have recovered by now, and maybe he would have had he not encountered the legendary Swords and run into that space and time shifting thing going on. Fuck this destiny, he almost says, but instead he just laughs and shakes his head until he feels his knees again, until warmth rushes back to his legs and wipes away all the scars of the flight. Autumn isn't the best time to be traveling by air, via Pokemon. Then again, autumn's hardly good for any Pokemon action at all, what with the cold slowly settling in.

Three taps on the small of his back, then he feels a warm hand slide up all the way to his shoulders. "Need me to carry you?" Baekhyun asks, voice lilting. Kyungsoo snorts. He doesn't even have to look over his shoulder to know that Baekhyun's wearing that shit-eating grin of his that annoys Sunyoung on bad days and makes her want to shove Baekhyun's face to the sand on good ones – today, it's a bit of both. And he can hear the smile in the way Baekhyun hums his name like a lyric of his favorite song. Baekhyun does that a lot, when he's running out of things to say – he'll keep humming, signing the same thing until the words come to him and take root in his body. "Ah, Soo, that cut's fucking nasty. Okay, that's it, I'm really carrying you to the Center."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows at Baekhyun for a second then drops his gaze to his arms. There are three cuts each on both the right and the left, and there are red marks on his pants where his ankles have been bumping against Pelipper's beak. The wind blows, long and hard against their faces, and _that's_ when the pain sets in. It feels like taking a Leaf Blade to the gut and to every part of his body, feels a lot like being slammed to the ground too many times that Kyungsoo's lost count somewhere between slams number 34 and 35 already. The injuries he'd sustained after the infiltration are worse, but these aren't exactly much better than them – they just keep stacking up, the ugly red-brown lines on his skin. It's disconcerting, worrying. If his brother ever saw him like this then Seungsoo would freak the fuck out.

"Not your fault," he tells his Pokemon when he sees the slightest change in Pelipper's expression, then recalls the Pokemon to its capsule. He turns to Baekhyun, then, gripping the latter by the shoulders to steady himself on his feet again. "Thanks. You... can let go of me now."

"With those wounds? Hah. _Nope._ "

"You're injured, yourself," Kyungsoo mumbles, then reaches up to wipe his thumb along a small cut on Baekhyun's cheek. He laughs a little when Baekhyun seethes at the first contact, when Baekhyun whimpers as he lets his touch linger on Baekhyun’s skin for a second too long. Baekhyun manages to swallow down the sound, though, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows Baekhyun closing his eyes, taking a deep breath. Opening them again to meet Kyungsoo in the eye, to look at him and nothing, no one else. Sunyoung and Soojung haven't touched down yet and there's no one around – they'd landed about a kilometer away from the city so they can do a quick check of the area first before 'infiltrating' it. So they’re safe. And Kyunsgoo can lean in a bit more if he wants to, to feel Baekhyun’s hot breath on the bridge of his nose, prickling his skin and kicking his sense into overdrive. If he has enough courage to. "Don’t act like a superhero now."

Baekhyun snorts, laughs, leans in a bit more but pulls away at the next second. He doesn’t crush their lips together, instead sucking in his own bottom lip instead of Kyungsoo’s, but he hasn’t torn his gaze from Kyungsoo’s lips. And Kyungsoo can almost feel the silence crawling up his nape and wrapping around his neck, making him choke on words he isn't even supposed to be holding back like–

"I can handle myself, don't worry." He clears his throat then slides his hands down, tracing a thick line of warmth down to Baekhyun's chest. Baekhyun shivers at the touch, widens his eyes even more. The corners of his lips pull up into a slow-forming smile. "You... can let go of me now."

"What if I don't want to?"

Kyungsoo laughs. "Mission," he mutters, hoping Baekhyun would get it, but then Baekhyun doesn't budge, does even batt an eyelash when Kyungsoo repeats, " _I said,_ we have a mission–" And if Baekhyun had no sense of respect for their agreement then Kyungsoo would probably, _finally,_ be tasting Baekhyun on his lips now, but no – Baekhyun maintains those three safe inches between their mouths, wraps his arms around Kyungsoo's waist but doesn't pull him closer until their foreheads bump. Just keeps staring at Kyungsoo's eyes, nose, lips, and laughs when Kyungsoo starts sucking on his bottom lip in thoughtless retaliation. "Baekhyun."

"I know, I know, but you can't even stand without support right now," Baekhyun argues. Slowly, he draws Kyungsoo in, pulls him close, close, _closer,_ until he can tuck his chin on Kyungsoo's shoulder. He sways their bodies from side to side, just a small, rhythmic motion easy enough to fall into step to that Kyungsoo soon finds himself giving in, surrendering. He kicks himself at the back of his mind, _berates himself,_ but then half the reason he's still on his feet is Baekhyun, anyway. The other half is his stubbornness getting the better of him, reminding him of the many things that could go wrong if he allows them to fall into the pit of rapid change again. "And the girls aren't here yet. Remember what Professor Kwon said?"

"Don't go in alone," Kyungsoo murmurs in response, laughing as he ends. The sound gets caught in his throat halfway through, though, when he feels a sharp pain in his ankle, when the same sensation crawls up to his knee and makes him shake all over. He buries his face in the crook of Baekhyun's neck and groans. He shouldn't be flying on his own. He should be asking Gardevoir to fly with him, asking his Pokemon to assist both him and Pelipper during flight. It's safer that way. Or maybe he should start sipping berry soup again. He should ask Baekhyun to make some when they get settled in the Center. He should get knee and ankle braces for himself. He should–

" _Don't go in alone,_ " Baekhyun repeats, whispering the words in Kyungsoo's ear this time and licking a stripe along the curve of Kyungsoo's earlobe. Kyungsoo's breath hitches. His body gives a tiny jerk. He chokes down a gasp. And he slides his hands up again, tightening his grip on Baekhyun when Baekhyun starts sucking lightly on the underside of his jaw, when he feels the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun's lips against his skin. Out here, in broad daylight, smack in the middle of the road and standing in the clearing, anyone in flight can see them. Anyone who's emerging from one of the caves might run into them, stop in their tracks and wonder if they'd gone out the wrong exit because two boys with their arms wrapped around each other isn't exactly something you'd see everyday. Two boys teasing each other, testing each other's limits isn't something you see on the streets, on television, in Pokemon Centers that people from all walks of life frequent. And they shouldn't be doing this here. They _shouldn't be here._ The plan is to survey the area for a few good minutes and then infiltrate the city one by one. Sunyoung goes first because she's had the least amount of exposure to Team Rocket and other forces of evil. Next is Soojung who'd almost been captured by the Rockets that one time, a few weeks ago. Then Baekhyun, but Kyungsoo knows too well that Baekhyun won't allow them to be separated because _don't be stupid, you're fucking injured._ That's the plan. And nowhere in the plan does it state that he should be dropping his hands to Baekhyun's waist, slipping them beneath Baekhyun's shirt and hiking them up until he can feel goosepimples on Baekhyun's skin–

"So kisses on the lips are banned but we can make out like this?" Baekhyun says, laughing a little. He has one hand balled into a loose fist in Kyungsoo's hair. The other, he's still assisting Kyungsoo with, keeping them both on their feet. It feels like a reality check, almost, the way Baekhyun pulls away without preamble, the way he leans in again to cup Kyungsoo's cheeks and plant a kiss on Kyungsoo's forehead. The way he holds Kyungsoo at an arm's length like he, himself, can already feel the fast effects of change taking root in his body – stomach tossing and turning, toes curling in, breath hitching, all in fear of losing control. And the way he doesn't let go just yet, until Kyungsoo whispers something that sounds like soft laughter or a retort or just plain Baekhyun's name.

"Silly kid," Kyungsoo says after a while, then reaches up. He traces the curve of Baekhyun's cheek with cool fingers. Presses his thumb near the scar and where Baekhyun's pimples are breaking out. They're mirrored by freckles on the other side. He's always been fond of Baekhyun's freckles. And he can feel Baekhyun shiver now, can feel the goosepimples against his skin again, so he pinches Baekhyun's cheek instead of tilting his head, instead of leaning in for a kiss on the cheek. Don't give in just yet, he tells himself. You're both tired and looking for a break, even just a respite. You're both too willing, radioactive. Give it a rest. So he takes a step back, then another, then another, until of him that's left linked with Baekhyun is his left pinky.

"I won't catch you if you fall again," Baekhyun teases him. He yanks on Kyungsoo's hand until he can slot his fingers between Kyungsoo's own.

Well, too late, Kyungsoo wants to say. But Baekhyun doesn't need to hear that anymore, not with that silly grin on his lips and the way he doesn't let go even when Sunyoung and Soojung finally land a few feet away. Baekhyun already _knows._

↔

Pohang-si isn't any different from most cities by huge bodies of water. The East Sea still acts as a boundary on the left, and almost all around the city the mountains tower over high-rise condotels. The terrain is still uneven, for the most part, but there's none of the wicked slopes anymore, none of the steep climbs that Kyungsoo recalls having to trek just to get from the Center to the Mart in Gangneung-si or to reach the other side of the city back in Chuncheon-si. They're in a different region now, in Daegu, no longer as riddled with mountains as when they were traveling from one city to another in the Gangwon province. He almost misses the scent of dried fish so thick in the air, or even the way the powders of ash catch on his clothes whenever they pass by the market. It feels a lot like Mokpo-si again, close enough to the water, but not quite close enough to home.

"Weird. No signages to the Center," Sunyoung murmurs, then cranes her neck. They've been walking around for a good ten, twelve minutes now, looking for the Pokemon Center or even the Mart. The establishments are almost always just beside each other, anyway. But there's no sign of a white building capped with a red roof anywhere, no sign of trainers all headed in the same direction. There are a couple of people on the streets, sure, walking in and out of the tall buildings – Kyungsoo's pretty sure they've seen around five to ten already – but there's no sign of life, not a single hint of sound or noise or conversation in all the streets that they've passed.

And yet Pohang-si looks like a city that has long recovered from the war and the recent mishaps, rid of the marks of the battles and the natural disasters that have shaken up the entire country. There's no rubble on the streets, no cracks on the walls of the buildings. Heck, even the street signs look brand new. Kyungsoo would even go as far as saying that the city's been _spared_ from everything that happened and _has been happening_ in the country these past few months. Lucky people, a part of him says, but the better half of him can't help but feel that the city isn't even alive.

" _Ah,_ there you go!" Soojung says, then looks over her shoulder to gesture at the other three. Kyungsoo follows the movement of Soojung's body, then, looking over her shoulders and squinting when he spots two familiar colors at the far end of the beach. The facilities look big, possibly larger than any Pokemon Center he's been to – even that Seoul's – but– "Who the hell even builds a Center at the foot of the beach?" Soojung groans.

"My thoughts, exactly," Baekhyun murmurs, then lets out a loud exhale. He looks to his side, meeting Kyungsoo with a quiet gaze, then asks, "Can you still walk? Or do you want to fly?"

Kyungsoo snorts. "Pelipper will just injure me." He takes a few steps forward, slow and even, but keeps his grip tight on Baekhyun, anyway. On a normal day, he'd hate having to hold onto someone all the time for balance and support, but he's in enough pain, as it is, to even be thinking of other things. Every inch of his body feels sore – from when they infiltrated the Rocket hideout to traveling on his own all the way to Gangenung-si, from when he'd experienced a quake or a splice in space and time or _whatever that was_ while he was _on top of a mountain_ , atop Sobaeksan, and rushing to the ground with rocks and heavy winds ripping his skin and leaving scars on his limbs. And really, if he even pours effort and energy into thinking of ways to get his strength back as quickly as possible then he'll just end up falling on his ass. This is okay for now – Baekhyun snaking an arm around his waist and hoisting him up so that he can walk easier, more comfortably. "And I'm not sure if your Altaria's open to other people riding her."

"Well, you're right." Baekhyun shrugs, laughs a little, but for the most part it sounds like a string of grunts. Kyungsoo nudges him in his side a little, bumps his head into Baekhyun's own in a light, light push that ends up coaxing a smile to surface on Baekhyun's lips. " _Very_ possessive, that one. Did I ever tell you that she hates it when Swampert gets too chummy with me?"

Kyungsoo cackles. “Swampert's your starter, though. You're supposed to be close."

"And that she _hates it so damn much_ whenever I train Camerupt before I train her?"

"Oh?" Kyungsoo chuckles. In front of them, Sunyoung's looking over her shoulder every so often, shifting her gaze between the two of them but letting it linger on Baekhyun a little longer. It's almost as if she's checking if _he_ can still walk, if his knees aren't weak yet, if he's still breathing just fine. He's carrying two weights now, both on his right – Kyungsoo's body pressed close to his and the weight of Kyungsoo's tiny smiles and bubbles of laughter. "I mean, I guess the bond you two share must be _really strong_ for her to be that attached–"

"Nah, I'm just a great trainer," Baekhyun says, finishing with a grin.

Kyungsoo presses his lips to a thin line, the corners of his mouth shaking a little. He hovers, then says, "Fine, fine," huffing as he shakes his head. "At least the Rockets won't be able to use her if they ever try to steal your Pokemon–"

Baekhyun freezes for a second, then he's shifting his gaze to his side and meeting Kyungsoo's own. "You asked earlier if I'd seen the guy – _Chanyeol,_ yeah? – in Seoul, right? I mean, when you asked 'Seoul or Sokcho'?" Kyungsoo nods in response, doesn't even get to utter a sound when he almost digs his foot into a thick lump of sand. He shudders at the impact of the collision, nonetheless, and offers Baekhyun a small smile when Baekhyun tightens his grip on him. "For some weird reason, I keep thinking of the guy who gave me Camerupt's mega stone."

Kyungsoo drops his gaze to where Baekhyun's wearing a ring on his left hand, the gem at the center glimmering a bit too brightly when sunlight catches on it. "And your key stone."

"Yeah. I suppose you got yours there, as well? Did he corner you or something?"

"Sort of," Kyungsoo answers, voice almost dropping to a whisper. He has a very vague recollection of what happened back then, the whole sequence of events, but he _does_ remember the look on Kirlia's face when the man said it could have the Gardevoirite, free of charge. So he starts tracing things back from there – the man showing him all those different key stones in different pieces of jewelry, at least twenty mega stones arranged in neat rows on a case inside the shelf. The way he'd been attracted to the mega ring as soon as he saw it; he doesn't even wear rings. The way he'd found the shop, in the first place, how the tattered signage saying that the shop was selling key stones and mega stones and stones that Kyungsoo has _never seen before_ called out to him like it had been made just for him, no one else.

And the fact that when he returned a few hours after not by choice but by chance, the signage was gone. The store was still there, dark on the inside and locked up all around, but the signage was gone and nowhere to be found.

So Kyungsoo amends, shaking his head as he says, "I just saw a banner that says 'key stones and mega stones' and then I walked inside because my Pokemon wanted me to."

Baekhyun laughs a little and shakes his head. He keeps shifting his gaze from Kyungsoo the path they're taking _and then_ Kyungsoo again, but his body's still pressed against Kyungsoo's for the most part. They're still stuck in this tight fit. Kyungsoo can't say he minds.

"And of course you'd be attracted to that because 'ah, what's this, a stone I don't know about? Impossible! This is an _abomination!_ '" Baekhyun says after a while, thinning his voice as he scrunches his face into the weirdest, craziest expression ever. He looks like some kid running too high on sugar. And maybe he is. "'Do Kyungsoo, not aware of a particular item? Totally unheard of–'"

"Shut up. I don't sound like that," Kyungsoo grumbles. He can still feel the violent upward tug on the corners of his lips, though, can still feel the loud thumping in his chest – or is that Baekhyun's? It's hard to tell where he ends and Baekhyun begins in the fit of their bodies. It's _impossible_ to tell. _And I was never supposed to feel this way, either._

"Wanna bet?"

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Contemplates pushing Baekhyun to the side, as well, but then that will mean him ending up on the sand and the particles slotting themselves between his wounds. This is one of those games where he knows he won't win. Then again, almost every game involving Baekhyun ends that way. It's never a win-win situation with Byun Baekhyun.

"Okay, enough roughhousing, kids," Sunyoung calls out from over her shoulder. Kyungsoo looks up to meet her gaze in response, but by then Sunyoung has already turned around to face front, only the upward tug on her cheeks hinting at the smile on her lips visible from where Kyungsoo is. He can't even be sure if Sunyoung really _is_ smiling. She's good at that, convincing people that the curls on her lips are real, that the laughter isn't fake. _Oh come on, Joonmyun-oppa, why would you even think– What? I won't be sad because you're moving away! Geez–_ But if years of friendship are anything to go by then Kyungsoo knows, he just _knows,_ that Sunyoung will be risking a glance at him, just a quick look, before hastening her steps and catching up with Soojung who's walking like she hasn't just gotten off of crutches two days ago. So Kyungsoo waits – for their gazes to meet, for Sunyoung to smile _straight at him,_ for any form of validation from Sunyoung, something along the lines of, _well, this kind of change I can get used to. Not bad, Do, not bad at all._

A hiccup when he almost misses a step, and then their eyes meet. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath as soon as he feels the violent tug on the corners of his mouth, bites down at one corner when Sunyoung chuckles and shakes her head. Beside him, he hears Baekhyun mumbling, "You two are _so weird,_ " sees Baekhyun rolling his eyes at them and even finishing with a rapid shake of the head, but then Baekhyun's hands are still steady on him – one on his waist, the other clasped with his hand. Baekhyun can lie with his words but his body will always give him away.

"You like 'weird'," Kyungsoo retorts after a while, once they reach a less rocky path.

Baekhyun pauses in his tracks for one quick second, and then he's pulling Kyungsoo closer to his side. His body is warm. Kyungsoo leans in a little and breathes out as Baekhyun whispers, "I _love_ weird."

Pohang-si's Pokemon Center looks more like bungalow mansion than a treatment center. For one, the entrance is marked with the same gold pillars you usually find guarding Pokemon gyms. And then there's the nice marble tiling on the floors and plush couches that look as if they've been shipped from countries too far from Korea that Kyungsoo won't see them even if he cranes his neck hard enough. Even Nurse Jinri and her assistants are in an attire different from the standard nurse outfit used across all the Pokemon Centers Kyungsoo has been to so far. "Part of tourism?" he recalls Baekhyun saying when Soojung commented on the vast difference between the other Centers and this one in Pohang-si. "I mean, it's not a _really big city_ so I guess the city government – or at least the gym leader – is trying to do everything that he can to urge people to visit the place?"

"I dunno, though," Sunyoung says now as she throws her head back against the cushion just behind her, shutting her eyes as she exhales. "Everything's so... different – the people, the atmosphere–"

The city, in itself – it sticks out like a sore thumb, Kyungsoo muses. It’s almost as if it doesn’t want to belong.

Kyungsoo laughs a little. “Thought you’d pick up on that,” he comments as he lifts his leg onto the bed, shifting in his position. His skin still feels too sore for any kind of contact. His limbs feel too heavy. The pillows feel good on his back, though. If he slumps against the cushions then maybe, maybe he can just close his eyes and rest, but then the space beside him sinks a little and immediately he feels a prickling warmth slide against his right leg. He risks a glance to his side, then, chuckles when he sees Baekhyun’s hovering figure, then throws his head back against the pillows. “And Audinos instead of the standard Chanseys. Not that I’m belittling Audino’s ability to _heal_ Pokemon, but–"

"But it still feels weird. The city feels so... detached from everything," Baekhyun offers, leaning back as well. You have your own bed, Kyungsoo wants to say, wants to jostle Baekhyun over to the next bed because he's just begun enjoying his respite _and_ having this to himself, but then he doesn't have enough energy to move around, much more push Baekhyun off the edge and over to the bed beside his. And Baekhyun's warm. With autumn finally setting in and overcoming the humid winds of summer, Kyungsoo will need something to keep him warm, keep him thawed out. Baekhyun's perfect for that.

Baekhyun leans his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder, then looks up at the latter through half-lidded eyes. The corners of his lips are pulled up into a soft, soft smile. Kyungsoo gulps hard, lets his eyes wander for a minute – from Baekhyun's soft gaze to the bridge of his nose _then_ further south, down to the mole close to the gentle swell of his top lip and then dropping his gaze to the jut of Baekhyun's bottom lip. His lips are too chapped, too red. Too swollen and abused from being worried too much. Baekhyun does that when he's running out of things to say or when he 'doesn't want to screw things up'. When he _doesn’t want to ruin it._ In truth, it's silence that pushes people away, breaks relationships apart. So make a move and make some noise, a voice at the back of his mind says, but it can't be that easy. They've got a mission to fulfil, lives to save. They literally have to save the world from being spliced into many different times and dimensions, no matter how ridiculous that sounds.

He laughs to himself. Baekhyun's stuck to his side like a puzzle piece that has finally found a fit _somewhere._ This is far from detached.

"How are communications, though?" Kyungsoo asks, craning his neck a little. When he feels Baekhyun's head slipping, he rests a hand on Baekhyun's cheek and holds him in place. "I tried getting in touch with the professor as soon as we passed the border but I couldn't get good signal."

Soojung drops her gaze to her Gear and tinkers with it for a while, alternating between pressing a few buttons here and there and typing something on the screen. Not more than a minute after, she looks up and shakes her head, addressing the three with a faint frown. "No luck."

"In that case, they might not be able to track us," Baekhyun comments, sitting up a little but still slumping against Kyungsoo's side. Between the two of us, _I'm_ the one who was more seriously injured, right, Kyungsoo wants to retort, but the next thing he knows Baekhyun's sitting upright, just linking their ankles where Sunyoung and Soojung can see. "I mean yeah, we don't need internet or data to use GPS but if networks can't distribute signal here in the city then we're done for."

"We can ask Nurse Jinri later. She'd know how to get in touch with the labs," Kyungsoo offers. He locks his arms in front of him, then, and taps a quick beat on Baekhyun's thigh before slipping from the bed to get back on his feet. "Baekhyun challenges the gym first, right? Because you two still have to do an aerial inspection of the city?"

" _Ideally,_ " Sunyoung answers, then lets out a long exhale. "But then the gym office hasn't been answering so we can't set a schedule with the leader. I mean, I know we're on a mission and all but it's rude to just appear at the gym's doorstep unannounced to challenge the leader. They have lives outside of handing out badges, after all."

_They have lives outside of–_ Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows a little as he tries to go through the streets they've walked along on their way to the Center. If Seoul's leader was affiliated with the Electric Corporation, somehow, and Joonmyun has been involved in training divers to assist the tourists visiting the islands, then Pohang-si's leader _must_ be working on something related to his element, as well. _Fire, fire, what the hell goes with fire-types–_ He shuts his eyes, then, curls in his fingers, and presses his balled fists close to his eyes. "Did any of you see any... big restaurants in the vicinity?"

"Yeah. There's a seafood restaurant just before the... path thing we took to get to the beach proper _and then_ to the Center," Baekhyun answers. Kyungsoo can hear the bedding shift, rustling against the material of his pants. He can feel the pads of his glasses digging into his skin, as well. It feels like an ant bite compared to the dull ache in his ankles; no biggie. The he feels the weight of Baekhyun's hands on his shoulders and _now that hurts._ He makes sure to twist his elbows in Baekhyun's side once Baekhyun's standing upright again. "What was it called again? Lucky Ludicolo or something? Krusty Krabby? Flareon Roasters?"

"Happiness Delight," Soojung offers, then inches closer to them. She taps a few things on the screen of her Gear, then pulls up a picture of the place. "I was taking photos earlier. A bit blurry for some reason, but you can see the store clearly from this picture–"

Kyungsoo inches closer and squints. The shadows of Soojung's hair cloud in on the photograph and make it a bit too dark for his liking, but he can make out the details on the facade of the store – the signage _does read_ Happiness Delight in child-like handwriting. He spots some cute doodles on either side of the words, as well – flames, two suns, one of them hiding behind thick clouds. Short lines for rays on all sides of the signage. The entire canvas the signage has been designed on is reminiscent of old paper, as well, with holes that are burnt around the edges peppered along the canvass. He'd ask Baekhyun if the design looks familiar, if it looks anything like the signage he might have seen in Seoul, but then hadn't that poster about mega stones been made _just for him?_

"Familiar?" he asks, nonetheless, succumbing to curiosity. He looks to his side and lifts his eyebrows. "Does it remind you anything at all?"

Baekhyun twists his mouth to the side and purses his lips. To anyone who doesn't know Bakehyun, they'd probably think he's just making a weird face, trying to look cute. The gentle furrow of the eyebrows gives him away, though, sort of hints at the thoughts going through his head at the moment. And Kyungsoo hasn't spent years walking with Baekhyun along the beach to not know what the tilt of the head is trying to say, to not know what Baekhyun by blowing a stream of cool air onto his bangs and by jutting out his lips in what's supposed to be a frown.

"I'm not saying it's a replica," Baekhyun begins, risking a glance at Kyungsoo before turning to look at the display again, "but _the style_ is so distinct. And I swear to God I'm no designer but my memory's _immaculate._ "

Of course, Kyungsoo almost says. It's just that there are things Baekhyun prefers to forget. Isn't everyone like that, though? Sunyoung claims she's long forgotten how Joonmyun smiles (in her direction but never at her). Soojung's proclaimed that she's already forgotten about that time, back in Jeju-do, when she fell on her ass right in front of Kyungsoo and wouldn't let him help her get up. And Kyungsoo keeps telling everyone that he's moved on from Sinyuk-ri, its beaches and its sand and its perpetually active waters, but in truth Sinyuk-ri's still there inside him, in a tiny vessel in his chest. And he keeps everything in there, isolated from the rest of his system, bound by a tourniquet that might come off anytime soon.

Just one kiss, a voice at the back of his mind whispers. If you want to drop anchor once and for all and stop sailing then all you have to do is to lean in for a kiss. But he can’t afford that leisure right now. So he looks at the display of Soojung's Gear and not at Baekhyun's reflection, listens to Soojung as she says, "Are you two talking about the mega stone shop in Insadong?” He lifts his gaze at that and widens his eyes at Soojung before nodding in affirmation. "The shop with the tall guy who sells all sorts of stones? Long hair, worn-out coat, long beard, scars on the cheeks?"

"Not on the cheers," Kyungsoo whispers, then shifts in his position to see Baekhyun better. "They’re… near the mouth." Baekhyun’s widening his eyes, too, like everything's slowly falling into place – those distinct scars on the skin of those two trainers they'd faced back in the Rocket hideout, the Pokemon they were training. The way they kept their faces shielded from Kyungsoo and Baekhyun with the masks they wore the entire encounter and only revealed their features when they had to escape during after the fight because it was fast becoming impossible to breathe with the masks on. "Okay, I'm _99% positive now–_ "

"What's the remaining 1% for?" Sunyoung asks. "Benefit of the doubt?"

"Sort of," he answers, laughing as he ends. He takes a deep breath and recalls the flash of fear and worry and _doubt_ in the features of those trainers – the widening of their eyes, the way their hands shook as they tried to feel their arm bands for the exact Pokemon that they needed that time, the way they looked at each other like they were saying, through the gentle furrow of their eyebrows, _If we ever die right here, right now, then know that it's been a great ride and that I'd do this all over again with you._ And then he breathes out, long and loud, at the same time that he leans against his bed. "We just need to confirm something to make the hunch a hundred percent correct.

"We need to give Pohang's gym leader a battle he'll never forget."

↔

Back when he was still in primary school, Kyungsoo recalls Professor Kwon – and back then she'd just been teaching for, what, three years or so? – giving them a list of the most important rules to follow as a Pokemon trainer. One, push your Pokemon to the limit only if they're willing to do the same. Two, never put your Pokemon in harm's way and if they ever decide to do it, themselves, then _fucking get them out_ of that tight situation. Third, always stock up on more healing items and Pokeballs than you think you need. And then fourth, underlined twice, the true mark of a great trainer is being able to turn a type disadvantage into a complete advantage over the opposing trainer. He'd underlined that twice because Baekhyun called him out before on favoring particular types that don't even support each other. He'd promised to beat Baekhyun with either an all-psychic or all-dark team, as well. Teach the rude kid a lesson and kick his sorry ass in the best game Kyungsoo knows how to play – Pokemon.

Flash forward too many years after and he's facing the same problem, only as an adult who's supposed to know better. If, back in Chuncheon-si, he'd suffered a disadvantage against ice-types, now he's worrying his match up against fire-types.

"Use your Flygon. He'll be good against almost everything the leader has," Baekhyun says now, during training, out at the back of the Pokemon Center as he hands Kyungsoo a bag of berries. He moves a little to his left, inch by inch until they're pressed side to side. If it were still summer, Kyungsoo would complain, but then it's autumn now. The winds aren't warm and sticky anymore; they're cool, dry. They slice chills along his arms and wrap around his neck in a tight, vicious grip. And he actually likes the cold crawling up his spine and making him shiver. Baekhyun counters that quite nicely when he rests his hand on Kyungsoo's thigh, drumming a beat on the material of Kyungsoo's pants. "Unless the leader has a floating _or_ flying Pokemon or something, in which case you should have a rock-type ready."

Kyungsoo looks to his side and reaches for one berry from the bag. Looks around them, soon after, and breathes out when he finds their Pokemon doing target training a few feet away. Soojung and Sunyoung have excused themselves to do one last round of aerial inspection before settles in earnest, before they start training for their gym challenge tomorrow afternoon. Baekhyun, well... he slotted himself in Kyungsoo's schedule and asked (sent out his Pokemon without preamble) if he could join Kyungsoo in training. "The field's big, anyway," Baekhyun's said then, about two hours ago when they were just starting. And Baekhyun was right – the field at the back was probably the size of two Pokemon gyms. They could hold a tournament here if they wanted to. And even if Growlithe keeps missing its Will-o-Wisps, there's always the water to douse the misguided flames.

He plucks the leaves one by one and runs his thumb along the surface, then bites off a portion as he leans back against the wall behind them. "Flygon knows Rock Slide," he says after a while, then leans over to where Baekhyun is. Slowly, he reaches up, presses his thumb to a corner of Baekhyun's mouth, then mouths, _open up._ "Though I'll see if I can teach another one of my Pokemon a rock-type move," he continues, then pushes the other half of the berry between Baekhyun's lips. "I still have time. Around... a couple of hours. Maybe I can even try to make Drilbur evolve."

Baekhyun blinks at him – once, twice, _thrice,_ a few more times until Kyungsoo breaks into light laughter. "What?" he asks, reaching for another berry when he doesn't get an immediate answer from Baekhyun. Part of him wants to grab Baekhyun by the shoulders and shake him, or even pull him close until he has to push Baekhyun away again, not with his hands but with a sharp intake of breath, but _mission,_ he repeats to himself. They're out here at the back of a Pokemon Center not only to train their Pokemon and earn their fifth badge but also to be one step closer to cornering Pohang-si's gym leader and maybe extract a confession from him. They have a responsibility not only to Professow Kwon as trainers she's entrusted her technology with but also to everyone here in Korea who might be affected by the legendary Pokemon outbreaks, Team Rocket's evil schemes. So he repeats, this time more clearly and in a much louder voice, " _What?_ "

"I can't do this," Baekhyun says, laughing a little. He shakes his head, parts his lips, presses them together. Breathes out a long and loud sigh. Kyungsoo leans back a little, furrowing his eyebrows in accord, but Baekhyun chases after him, balls his fingers into a loose fist in Kyungsoo's shirt as he pulls Kyungsoo too close that the tips of their noses bump. "I can't do this... this holding back thing. I know you're thinking about the mission and all that shit and _trust me,_ I've been trying to concentrate on that but if you keep looking at me _that way–_ "

–like there's nothing, no one else in the world more worthy of his attention, like Kyungsoo wouldn't mind spending days, months, _years_ studying every detail, every curve and slope and wicked contour of Baekhyun's body, his face, his mouth? Like there's nothing else he wants to do right now, out here in Pohang-si with the waves rushing to shore just a few feet away, but to tilt his head and lean close and crush his lips against Baekhyun's? "Sorry," Kyungsoo mutters in response. Drops his gaze from the bridge of Baekhyun's nose to the cute little mole north of Baekhyun's upper lip and then down to his exposed collarbone. Sorry but _it's not as if you haven't been doing that, either,_ is what he means to say. He doesn't utter another sound, though, doesn't even move, but instead he closes his eyes and breathes in deep. Counts to three because that's what he usually does before dipping into the water and trying to swim deeper into the sea. _One,_ he takes a step forward so he can introduce himself to the cool waters. _Two,_ he takes a deep breath, inches even closer, throws all of his fears to his side. And then _three,_ he lunges deeper into the waters, delves into them, swims deep and opens his eyes to be greeted by the most beautiful marine life he's ever seen. Deep in water, he can't hear anything beyond the loud thumping in his chest. Deep in the water, he sees nothing, no one else but himself. He's all alone here, safe from harm and pain and Baekhyun, but this is Pohang-si. They're not in Sinyuk-ri. And Baekhyun's right beside him, tilting Kyungsoo's chin up, exposing himself, hoping Kyungsoo would do the same for him.

"Sorry for what?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. "The mission," is what he blurts out at first, but Baekhyun only snorts at that like he's saying, well, that's not your fault. So he clears his throat, opens his eyes so he can meet Baekhyun's own. Baekhyun's gaze wanes for a second, flitting from Kyungsoo's own to the jut of his lip and lingering there, but soon he looks at Kyungsoo in the eye again like he can read and hear the words Kyungsoo hasn't even said yet.

"I'm sorry that we have to keep doing _this_ until we finish... saving the world or something," he continues, rolling his eyes. Baekhyun laughs at that, reaches up to give his cheek a light pinch then rubs his thumb along the sore part like some form of apology. Kyungsoo takes it as a sign to continue, drinks it up like an ounce of courage. "I'm so sorry we've been getting into all sorts of legendary encounters because apparently I have the ability to draw these creatures and even evil humans to myself."

Baekhyun doesn't speak, doesn't say a word, but then he hasn't stopped rubbing his thumb along Kyungsoo's cheek, either. And Kyungsoo tries to decode this, tries to scour his brain for a hint, a cheat sheet, an answer as to what Baekhyun is trying to say, but to no avail. This is foreign territory. The pads of Baekhyun's fingers are turning cold against his skin. The corners of Baekhyun's lips keep tugging up-down-up _then down again_ like he isn't sure, like isn't certain of what he wants. And right now Kyungsoo wants nothing but to wipe that look off of Baekhyun's face. No way in hell is he cataloguing that in his mind, in his collection of Baekhyun expressions. No way in hell is he committing that to memory–

"So I'm sorry," Kyungsoo says again, drawling his syllables this time so that Baekhyun might not miss any part of it. And Baekhyun responds in kind, nodding his head to the beat of the syllables, one light jerk of the head for every sound that spills from Kyungsoo's lips. "For getting us into trouble and for getting us into this arrangement and for ruining everything. It's stupid, I know, and it sucks. I'm sorry that we can't–"

"Be happy," Baekhyun says, voice softer than a whisper. His voice doesn't waver, though, still firm and resolute like he's resolved to himself that this is how they'll always be. Kyungsoo shakes his head head, crosses his fingers, hopes this won't be the case. This isn't a situation they've been shoehorned into and won't ever be able to escape. They just have to fight harder. They just have to not give up.

"–be free," Kyungsoo finishes, then sucks in a deep, violent breath. He shivers when he feels the cool winds slotting between his teeth, numbing his gums. His knees shake. Baekhyun grips him even tighter. "But after this, Baekhyun, after all of this–"

"We'll be heroes, champions," Baekhyun adds, laughing a little. He pinches Kyungsoo's cheeks again. If this is some secret code for a kiss then Baekhyun has kissed him at least three times in the span of five minutes. It's not fair. But then Baekhyun has never been a believer of fair play in this crazy game they're in. They're stuck in an orbit they've made for themselves. Kyungsoo's positive neither of them regrets _any of it._ " _Legends,_ just imagine that. I mean, think about it!" Baekhyun's voice is cracking now, pitchy when he speaks louder. The corners of his mouth pull up at the sides, relaxed, almost natural. But then his cheeks are shaking a little like the situation’s catching up with him, sneaking up on him. He looks the same way he did when Baekbeom asked him to go fishing with him on Ice Cream day, looks like a kid who's been robbed of candy or birthday treats or even Christmas, itself. He doesn't look like _Baekhyun;_ he looks like the Baekhyun people expect him to be. Still, Kyungsoo looks at him, takes in the sight, takes a deep breath. "Our names will be in papers and history books and teachers like Professor Kwon will be talking about us as the greatest trainers the world has ever know. 'Byun Baekhyun and Do Kyungsoo successfully save the world from the evil clutches of Team Rocket–'"

"You're forgetting Sunyoung and Soojung."

" _I'm getting there,_ " Baekhyun groans, jutting out his bottom lip in thoughtless retaliation. Kyungsoo runs a finger along that, wishes it was his lips he was brushing against Baekhyun's mouth and not a cool, stiff finger. He doesn't voice that out, though, doesn't utter a word like he fears he'll just ruin everything. And he doesn't tear his gaze from Baekhyun's mouth, either, trying to memorize where those tiny red lines are so he can lick off the blood in them one by one when he _finally gets the chance–_ "But what I'm saying is, it's all good. No need to apologize. Really. Please don't. I'll... manage. Somehow. You'll just have to live hearing me make some noise in the bathroom from time to time because I have _needs_ and– _Will you stop doing that?_ "

Kyungsoo's gaze flickers from that weird, awkward push and pull of a smile and a frown on Baekhyun's lips, to the reddening tip of Baekhyun's nose, to Baekhyun's eyes where he can see his reflection in a clear, crisp image. Baekhyun's lips quiver. Kyungsoo sucks in his bottom lip in response, then gulps down hard. Stop doing _what,_ he wants to ask, but Baekhyun beats him to it, parts his lips to let out a low exhale, poised to speak.

"One more time, Do Kyungsoo," Baekhyun begins, voice thinning to a whisper, as he leans even closer. Volume doesn't matter now. They're close, too close, that Kyungsoo can hear the uneven sound of Baekhyun's breathing, or the light chatter of his teeth. They're close enough that he can see the faint red dots on Baekhyun's skin, each seemingly a centimeter apart, all in a straight line. Close enough that if he can press his lips to Baekhyun's own and claim it as an accident, that it's not a kiss – just a collision of desires. He _can_ do that. But then his breath hitches when he feels Baekhyun's bottom lip brush against his top lip, when he feels Baekhyun breathe out into the thinning space between them. He gulps down hard. Part of him wants to push Baekhyun away, help Baekhyun out, do his part, but he wants to hear the rest of Baekhyun's speech as well. So he stays, lingers, doesn't move even when Baekhyun presses his lips to that small section just north of his mouth. Holds his breath as Baekhyun says, "Do that one more time and _I swear to God_ I'll kiss you senseless and make you forget that the stupid agreement even exists."

He wants to. More than just 'wants to' – he's been dying to do that for days, months, _years_ already, and only now does the realization set in, when his stomach lurches in a force so strong that his face almost falls forward and into the crook of Baekhyun's neck. It hits him, square in the gut where it hurts the hardest, and chokes out all the feelings he's been pushing down, down, _down_ for the longest time. Forces him to hear the voices that he's long been shuffling to the very back of his head – fuck this mission and resolve and control. Fuck saving the world if he can't even keep himself from falling this hard. Fuck all the time they've spent apart; those years don't matter anymore. All that matters is _now._

But that stupid agreement's been etched at the back of their minds now, along with the promise of spending better days with each other in tiny, tiny text. So he parts his lips for the last time, whispers, "Got it," instead of saying an apology. And then he counts, ten whole seconds before the both pull away from each other, lean back against the wall, throw their heads back against the surface like it's the only way they can find their balance again.

Baekhyun sits the bag of berries between them and laughs a little. His voice cracks, sounds more strained than it should be. It makes Kyungsoo shiver. And he finds himself wondering if Baekhyun's been coughing himself hoarse just trying to stay here, outside, without a coat on even if his tolerance for the cold is shit. He risks a glance at Baekhyun, then, slips out of his jacket and tosses it onto Baekhyun's face.

Baekhyun furrows his eyebrows at Kyungsoo in retaliation, but he makes no effort to get even. Instead, he keeps his eyes glued to Kyungsoo as he slips the jacket on, as he pulls at the sleeves until they find a snug fit in his arms. And Kyungsoo watches with a weird sort of fascination because _wow,_ when was the last time that they borrowed each other's clothes? When they were eight? It's amusing to see pieces of them fit each other. And it's comforting to know that some things haven't changed at all.

"You smell like coffee," Baekhyun grumbles as he pulls up the zipper in front. "Like... the strong type. Probably like the stuff hyung and Minseok-hyung like so much. I don't get how you guys can stand it, really. But well, I guess it really _does_ smell good–"

Kyungsoo pauses midway through eating a Pecha berry, the tip poised between his lips, and stares, just stares at Baekhyun. He watches the movement of Baekhyun's lips, the words spilling from them drowned out by the howling winds around them, the loud thumping at the back of Kyungsoo's ears, his Pokemon making some noise a few feet away. He cranes his neck, then, just to check if Pelipper hasn't lifted Growlithe off the ground just to freak it out, but then his eyes are still on Baekhyun – glued, magnetized, _stuck,_ without any chance of breaking away from the weight of Baekhyun's stare.

"I said, you smell like coffee," Baekhyun repeats, slowly this time, like Kyungsoo's missed it the first time around. He didn't. He just missed the escape route that said, 'if you ever think you're close to breaking your resolve again, too close to not keeping your side of the agreement then _walk this way_ and never look back'. He heard Baekhyun loud and clear, like Baekhyun's said it right in his ear – you smell like something I don't drink but whose scent I like enough to keep me breathing in the hints of you trapped between these threads. He shivers at the thought, at the sound of Baekhyun's sharp inhalation. At the chuckle that slips from Baekhyun's lips just before he says, "Don't ask me which kind exactly. I only know I shouldn't be saying you smell like _instant coffee_ because you'll kill me if I do that–"

He pops the berry inside his mouth and turns to Baekhyun with a stern gaze. Baekhyun greets him with a bright smile and equally bright laughter, rivaled only by the way the corners of his eyes crinkle as his cheeks keep tugging up, up, _up._

They spend another hour and a half outside, with Baekhyun trying to teach Camerupt how to clear its mind in the quickest way possible so that it can execute an Ancient Power attack. Growlithe's been hitting its Will-o-Wisps and Snarls and Heat Waves by then, setting fire to the leaves Sceptile launches into the air for target practice. Gardevoir's been training with Drilbur, helping it switch from its normal form to drill form as quickly as possible so it can hit harder with Drill Run instead of having to take damage straight to the face just because preparing to launch an attack takes too much time. And Peliipper hasn't stopped apologizing for the dull ache in Kyungsoo's ankles yet. They don't hurt as much anymore, but from time to time Kyungsoo'd feel a kick of pain rush up his calves from his ankles then knock at the back of his knees. And he'd shiver. But he hasn't fallen to his knees in a while, not since that quake-slash-splice-in-space-and-time back in Sobaeksan where he encountered the legendary Swords again smack in the middle in their search for something.

"Pelipper, get some rest. I'll need you to put in a lot of work tomorrow," he says, recalling his Pokemon to its capsule. Pelipper puts up a fight at first, for five quick seconds, but soon fatigue wears its down as it slows in flapping its wings and allows Kyungsoo to chuck a Pokeball at its body. The image of Pelipper's big beak is soon replaced by Baekhyun's figure, though, arms locked over his shoulder as he stretches, as he mumbles, "Better call it a night. It'll be a long day tomorrow. And Kyung– I mean Ludicolo keeps chasing your Growlithe for some reason so you better make that Pokemon of yours calm down."

"Maybe Ludicolo just found Growlithe cute. I would," Kyungsoo reasons. He crouches low as his Pokemon approaches, reaching out to ruffle the Pokemon's fur. It's one of the best ways to calm Growlithe down enough to coax it to return to its Pokeball without whittling its health to a low, low range through battle, he discovered two days from when he'd started training the Pokemon. And it helps Growlithe sleep better, as well. It hasn't been waking up _and_ waking Kyungsoo up in the middle of the night anymore. And it hasn't been attacking any of Kyungsoo's Pokemon, either. Now, Growlithe sinks into the touch for a bit, but soon it shivers a little and lets out a low growl. Then it's leaning back before taking a huge leap, draping itself all over its trainer's body.

Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath, eyes going wide as he ganders at the Growlithe looking up at him with a focused gaze. For a second, he thinks he hears Baekhyun gasping, but when he looks up he finds Baekhyun with his lips pressed into a thin, thin line. The only hint of surprise in his features is the way he widens his eyes, the way he has an arm reaching out in Kyungsoo's direction like he's about to yank either Kyungsoo or the puppy Pokemon away. Kyungsoo can't decide yet. All he is certain of is that Baekhyun's breathing out in a low exhale, shoulders dropping and the shaking of his cheeks easing into a comfortable drop of the muscles as he leans back.

"See? Cute," Kyungsoo says, lifting his eyebrows as he buries his face in Growlithe's fur. Growlithe lets out a low grumble, but it leans into Kyungsoo's warmth, anyway. And then it's licking his cheek, the tip of his nose, his ear, every part of him that it can reach and leave marks on.

"Get a room, you two," Baekhyun groans, rolling his eyes in accord. Yet he keeps a hand on the small of Kyungsoo's back as they make their way inside the Pokemon Center again, as they pass the counter to deposit their Pokemon and then make their way back to the trainer's quarters near the Center's office. Only then does Kyungsoo reach over, does he pinch Baekhyun in his side and nudge him, at the same time, before settling down on his own bed. He thinks of teasing Baekhyun about the whole encounter, about getting jealous over _a Pokemon_ and actually trying to tug Kyungsoo away from Growlithe, just trying because Baekhyun had a hand twisted in a loose fist in his shirt the whole time Growlithe had its body draped on Kyungsoo’s chest like Baekhyun was reminding him that _your Pokemon doesn’t own you. Don’t break your promise. Don’t break my heart._ Or maybe Baekhyun’d just done it so that Kyungsoo wouldn’t fall on his sorry ass if his wounds got the better of him again. It’s hard to tell. So Kyungsoo doesn’t push through with it, instead sitting on his hands and staying quiet, listening to Baekhyun breathe until Baekhyun decides to speak up. Until Baekhyun starts to hum and breaks the white noise with the sound of his voice.

"So, three badges to go?" Baekhyun asks, tilting his head to the side. The smile on his lips is soft, warm.

Kyungsoo laughs and shakes his head. " _Only_ three badges to go," he corrects, then breathes out in a loud exhale. They could both use some optimism, after all. A whole lot of optimism can go a long, long way. "Just three badges to go."

↔

This is the plan that Kyungsoo made the night before, eleven in the evening with Baekhyun nodding to all the items in the list with his eyes half-closed: they get up at seven for their nine o' clock gym challenge (Baekhyun goes first; Kyungsoo goes second because he's still debating evolving Drilbur into an Excadrill for that extra power). Eight in the morning, they should have all freshened up already and be on their way to Happiness Delight. If they're lucky, maybe they can catch Pohang-si's leader in the restaurant. Or maybe they'll get a glimpse of him through the kitchen windows. Shouldn't be that hard. Then they'll be at the gym ten minutes before nine so that they can mentally prepare themselves for the upcoming match. Or maybe just loosen up and shake the nervousness off. That also works. You're never truly prepared for a gym battle, after all, no matter how hard you train your Pokemon or how well you plan out your strategy for every possible Pokemon match up. Battles are 50% hard work and 40% luck, and 10% trying not to freak out at the possibility of the percentages being turned around and trying to sway luck in your favor as much as you can.

Things _do_ go as planned. The first two items in the plan, at least, because when they arrive at the gym, they don't find their names on the list of challengers posted just a few steps from the doorstep. They find no one in sight, either. The lights are closed and the air is sickeningly quiet and it's too cold for a fire-type gym. "Cold fire?" Baekhyun jokes, tries to laugh, but in the end he only ever puffs out a ball of air. It suspends in front of them in a thin sheet of white curved like an orb, then it dissipates into nothingness, emptiness, the darkness. "Don't tell me we have to navigate through a volcano or something–"

A tiny rumble a few feet away, then the ground beneath them shakes. Kyungsoo bends his knees a little and grips them tight, but soon the moving stills and the air around them turns... even colder. Like a fraction of the gym has just collapsed and now all the dry autumn air outside is crawling in and wrapping around them like a weird, cold quilt. "What the hell," Kyungsoo mutters, shifting his eyes from side to side. Slowly, the darkenss lifts, but it still isn't enough to illuminate the entire place. He can see the end of the high ceiling, yes, and the details of what looks like a crater at the very top, but that's it. Beyond the dips and curves drawn on the walls drawn by the shadows, he can see nothing else. He might as well be trapped too many feet underground without any chance of climbing back up.

"Kinda miss the Rocket hideout," Baekhyun murmurs, chuckling. He moves closer to Kyungsoo, feeling for something in his side until their knuckles brush and bump against each other. He slots his fingers between Kyungsoo's own, then, wraps his fingers around Kyungsoo's's own so tightly that Kyungsoo can feel the thrumming of Baekhyun's pulse in the fit of their hands. It isn't uncomfortable, though, or at least Kyungsoo thinks it isn't. He can still wiggle his hands when he feels a numbing cold creep to his joints and Baekhyun can still tap a beat on his skin to ease the tension in his nerves. They can still move around, pull away from each other if they want to, _even if they know_ that they don't. _A choice,_ that's the most important thing in this arrangement – they're both giving each other a choice to still turn on their heel and leave when they know very well that that's the last thing they'll want to do. "At least the corridors were all lit."

"But the floors were cracked," Kyungsoo groans. He pulls Baekhyun closer, _forward_ , and walks a few steps. He feels for any dips on the surface with the tip of his shoe – no cracks on the floor in this place, at least. "And even the ceilings were falling off."

"At least we could still see where we were going."

At least the legendary genies are free now, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. _Yeah. That, too._ "At least we knew how to not get ourselves in danger then."

"Because we could _see._ "

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Baekhyun kicks him in his calf, but soon apologizes with a soft murmur. He laughs a little. Twenty and trapped in a dark gym and they're still goofing off like this, like they're not in imminent danger. _Crazy,_ Kyungso thinks – only people as crazy as them will ever get the insane urge to cackle in this situation. The light in the gym soon brightens, though, just enough to let them see where they're walking a bit easier but not quite enough to set the entire gym aglow. And Kyungsoo takes a deep breath at the sight that welcomes him – the floor coated in bright red soil, maybe even magma that has already cooled, the walking area thinning to less than two meters, just enough for one trainer to go through. And then a pool of lava separating the actual arena from the entrance of the gym, capped with two tiny volcanoes – or maybe those are Camerupts, Kyungsoo can't tell at the moment – on either side of the figure standing meters away from where they are.

"That's not him," Kyungsoo whispers in Baekhyun's direction. Baekhyun looks to his side, his eyebrows furrowed, so Kyungsoo cocks his head in the direction of the shadowy figure, the 'gym leader' they're supposed to be facing. Baekhyun responds with a soft _oh,_ a small scoff. "Did he actually recognize us from the trainer profile and got a replacement as soon as he realized it was us?"

Baekhyun snorts. "Won't be surprised if we scared him off. I mean, we _did_ beat two of this Pokemon."

"And two of the other trainer's."

"And we kicked their sorry asses, basically."

Kyungsoo laughs a little at that, letting out all the air he'd kept in his chest in a low exhale. "And made them cry."

A crackle in the air, then the light finally shines in earnest. Kyungsoo shields his eyes, squints as he tries to adjust to the brightness. Beside him, Baekhyun tucks his chin and closes his eyes. Drowns out the light completely instead of easing into it. It takes longer than the usual for Kyungsoo to see clearly again, to be able to make out the features of the person standing feet away from therm. So he inches closer, takes one step forward after another, each two seconds apart, until all that separates him from the pool of lava in front of him is a hitch of the breath.

"It's a girl," Baekhyun says from behind, voice trailing off into silence. The sound of footsteps, then, "But she looks _exactly_ like the guy we faced back in the hideout."

She _does_ , Kyungsoo muses. It's there in her eyes, in the way she quirks up a corner of her mouth like she's pouting and expressing disappointment for them coming late when it should be _them_ giving her that look. Even the way the tiny smile makes the corners of her eyes crinkle seems so damn similar to the way the guy does his eye smiles. There's none of the scars on the corners of the man's – on _Chanyeol's_ – mouth, though, the woman's face void of any marks that can make the resemblance between them even more uncanny. And Kyungsoo's sort of glad for that. Any more than what he's witnessing right now and he's certain his stomach will be lurching anytime soon.

"Are you Byun Baekhyun?" the woman says now, her bright voice bouncing off the walls of the gym. There's an eerie sort of cheeriness to her tone, like she means something else by asking if it's Baekhyun who has one foot hovering the lava pit in an attempt to check if the lava _is_ real. Maybe she _does_ mean something else, _does_ want to say more than just Baekhyun's name and the rules of the battle and her own narration of how the match between them will unfold. But it's too early to tell. They don't even know her name yet. For all they know, her playing style is vastly different from that of the guy that they battled back in the Rocket hideout. "I said, _are you Byun Baekhyun–_ "

"Yes, that's me," Baekhyun answers, raising his hand. He looks over his shoulder when the woman doesn't utter a word, when another layer of doors slides to the side to reveal the real path to the arena. Kyungsoo gulps down hard. He has a vague recollection of this, of sliding doors trapping someone, _something,_ trapping a force so strong on the other side of the room. Only this time, there are no Pokemon involved yet, just two people ready to battle. He shudders at the memory, tries to flush down the sinking sensation in his stomach. So he studies the arena from where he is, presses his face to the glass doors when they shut behind Baekhyun. For a second, he's tempted to knock on the glass doors, to make the woman _let him in,_ but _no._ Instead, he takes a step back, maintains a good six, seven inches of space between them and watches from a safe distance, squinting his eyes when his vision begins to blur.

Baekhyun picks his three, and the gym leader – the Rocket's lookalike, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind reiterates – picks her three Pokemon, as well. She doesn't reach for the Pokeballs from deep in her pocket, though, or even from a belt pack unlike most trainers. Instead, she takes out a case that burns a bright red. Or at least that's what it looks like form where Kyungsoo is. There are too many things keeping him from seeing the events unfold in front of him clearly: the glass, the distance, Baekhyun who keeps moving from side to side, still deciding between three Pokemon for his last pick. An eerie sort of air, as well, that he feels wrapping around his throat but not quite gripping him tight. It's just there, a reminder that he's on the other side of the gym and not the one battling, that he's _here_ and not where the action is happening.

The leader slots the Pokeballs she has in her hands in the system scanner, and so does Baekhyun. Three blinks of the red bulb on both sides of the scanner, then the monitor displays the profiles of the trainers. Baekhyun looks three, four years younger in the picture in his trainer profile, looks like the same kid who'd left the island a decade ago, except more handsome. It's the haircut, Kyungsoo tells himself – it can't be anything else. On a normal day, he'd say, only to himself, that Baekhyun's really cute, but he'll never catch himself dropping more than just the casual compliment about how Baekhyun can sweep women (and men) off their feet.

He shakes his head and breathes in deep, then closes his eyes. Shifts his gaze to the leader's profile and tries to read her name, as well, squinting hard to see the characters better. "Park... Yura?" he mumbles under his breath, then continues reading the items listed under her name, achievements and titles that she's gathered throughout the course of her career: Three-time masters division top coordinator, number seven in the world during the Pokemon World Championships some seven, eight years ago. "Around the same time hyung broke the top ten," he whispers to himself now, then blinks a few times and keeps reading. "Regional champion for three years in a row and... recipient of the 'top breeder' award from the International Pokemon League."

He leans back a little and furrows his eyebrows. If all these achievements are true then Professor Kwon must know about her, one way or another. Heck, his brother might even know who this woman is if she truly _was_ in the same World Championships season as his brother was. He feels around for the lock button of his Gear, then, and makes a quick scan of his contacts. Hits the call button as he hovers on his brother's contact card and waits for a shrill ringing sound to come bursting from the speakers of the Gear.

He looks up at the sound of the whistle, at the sight of the word "START" flashing across the screen where the trainer profiles were once displayed. And then Baekhyun's chucking a Pokeball in the air, summoning a first chance at bagging that much-coveted Blaze Badge so he can inch closer to the real competition, the real beginning of every Pokemon trainer's journey – the Pokemon League–

And then everything goes dark. Everything on the other side of the gym, at least, because the lights are still bright and blinding where Kyungsoo is. He inches closer to the glass, presses his face against the cool surface and squints as hard as he can in an effort to see through the thickening sheet of darkness, but to no avail – he's trapped here, locked out from the action happening inside, subjected to the torment of not knowing but only hearing the sound of heavy footsteps, of attacks being called out, of the collision of a Scald from Ludicolo and a Flamethrower from the leader's Arcanine at the start of the match.

"Okay, look. If this is a prank call then _fuck off_ and leave my brother alone," he soon hears, and only then does he realize that the display of his screen is all lit up, that his brother's picture is plastered to the face of his PokeGear for the first time in a while, that it's _his brother_ on the other side of the line and not Professor Kwon whose calls he wants to just drop at the first ring sometimes. "Hey, wait– You didn't do anything to Kyungsoo now, did you? Hey–"

"Hyung," Kyungsoo whispers as he draws the receiver closer to his lips. On the other end of the line, Seungsoo drops a tiny _oh,_ then a _hey_ before erupting into these little bubbles of laughter. "Sorry, I was just–" Curious if you know this girl Baekhyun's battling right now, worrying about Baekhyun on the other side of the gym, _actually worrying about you, as well._ He says none of those. Instead, he clears his throat, says into the receiver in a voice much clearer than before, "Sorry for not calling that often. I’ve... been busy." He gulps hard. "The past few months have been rough."

Seungsoo breathes out into the receiver, muffling the sound for a bit and making the lines crackle. Kyungsoo shivers at the sound, at the sudden sharp peal of cold crawling up his nape and at the pounding at the back of his head. He doesn't pull away, though, doesn't lean back even when Seungsoo just laughs on his end of the line and says, "You really think I don't know what's been going on in your life right now? Really? Did you just underestimate your brother's ability to keep track you even better than umma used to monitor _everything_ that we did?"

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and shakes his head. He hears the sound of crashing a few feet away, hears a loud thud pound on the glass like something, _someone_ has hit the surface at a terrifying speed. He doesn’t hear a voice, though, not a single human or Pokemon sound that can allude to a creature sliding down the glass and lying limp and lifeless on the group. So he breathes out, away from the receiver and up at his bangs to give them a light fluff. Earlier, he'd heard Baekhyun ask Ludicolo to use Icy Wind on the field, possibly to cool the lava and help its other teammates in the succeeding battles, but Ludicolo wasn't even able to fire off the attach even before Arcanine assault it with a powerful move. Snarl – that was what Park Yura used to hit Ludicolo and make it flinch, then hamper its ability to dish out big damage just a little. Small and laughable, yes, but a decrease in offensive power can greatly affect a Pokemon's ability to defend itself, as well. Stack that up with damage and Ludicolo’s as good as poor excuse of an opponent.

"Yah, are you even listening?" Seungsoo groans on the other end of the line. Kyungsoo's body gives a tiny jerk in response, but _that won’t reach your brother,_ a voice at the back of his mind says. Still, he breathes out low and shuts his eyes, trying to listen for an update on the battle – who's launching an attack on whom, who's hurt and who's pulling away to let the other breathe. Which trainer's panicking and which isn't, not openly. There's nothing but white noise clogging his right ear and his brother's question on the right. "Where are you even? It sounds like you're in a... cave. Or underground. Or singing in the bathroom or something."

"I'm.. in a volcano, sort of," he answers. He scratches the back of his head, then the slope of his neck. He looks around him for a quick second like he hasn't seen this before, like he hasn't already studied the dips and humps on the walls as soon as the light shone brightly on them after keeping them in the dark for far too long. "A gym, actually. Pohang. Baekhyun's battling first and I won't be battling until an hour later, possibly."

"An hour? Too long, man. Back in our day, matches only lasted for twenty minutes, tops."

Kyungsoo scoffs. "We're not following the doubles format, hyung."

"Even then," Seungsoo argues. Kyungsoo can hear the sound of rustling on the other end of the line, then the shuffling of feet. He must have woken Seungsoo up. On most weekends, his brother isn't too fond of getting up before ten in the morning. Then again, this isn't a normal weekend. Nothing in Kyungsoo's life has been normal these past few months, and he doesn't expect anything to come close to the ordinary in the days to come. "Even in your best of three singles, leaders aren't supposed to be as hard on trainers trying to earn badges as they'd be to, lessay, challengers in the actual League. It's just–"

"Weird?" Kyungsoo tries, chuckling. Seungsoo responds with a low grunt, then a faint _ow._ He must have stubbed his toe into something again. It always happens in the morning, when Seungsoo believes everything he says and does doesn't make sense but actually does, after careful evaluation. "Times are changing, hyung. Almost all my gym battles have stretched to nearly an hour."

"That sounds rough," Seungsoo groans.

Not as much as flying from one city to another. Not as much as trying to catch a gang of evil trainers trying to steal Pokemon from other trainers who have too much faith in the good things that the world has to offer that they keep forgetting they've living in a _post-war world._ No one should be trusted so easily these days, not without a sliver of doubt. For all he knows, he really isn't talking to Seungsoo. He could be talking to a sound mimic, someone who'd stolen Seungsoo's identity. Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all.

"And you wouldn't have called if you didn't need anything. I don't think you're the type to openly hint at missing me even if you really do," Seungoo mutters after a while. He yawns, bright and loud into the receiver, at the same time that Kyungsoo hears another crash on the other side of the arena. Fuck this darkness, really. Fuck the distance in between pushing them further apart. "So c'mon, spill. How can your favorite hyung be of help?"

"I–" –am not like that, he's tempted to say, but even if he denies it Seungsoo will always have a way to counter him. So instead, he relents, huffs but rushes, "The gym leader here in Pohang, her name is Park Yura–"

“ _Park Yura?_ Wow…” Seungsoo laughs a little. “Can’t believe you’ll actually be up against her. Cool trainer. She's probably one of the most relaxed and patient trainers I know. We... competed in some tournaments in the past, if I remember correctly? Never got to battle her, actually, though I _have seen_ a lot of her matches,” Seungsoo continues even before Kyungsoo can say a word. It should be a good sign; it means Yura probably isn't fooling people with the credentials she's listed. It can also mean that _maybe_ Pohang-si's previous weirdo of a leader has already retired and stopped wrecking havoc upon his city and even involving the residents in his shady activities just like his gym leader friend in Seoul. Maybe Pohang-si is safe and they're just being paranoid about the entire situation. But then who wouldn't be? They’ve been tracking Team Rocket down and trying to defeat to the point that rebuilding the group will be _impossible_ for the past few months, but, every minute, a new Grunt seems to pop up to strengthen Team Rocket's forces. Every breathing moment, someone joins Team Rocket and allows himself to be used by the organization for evil deeds. So their worry is reasonable, warranted. If you've been bestowed with the responsibility of saving the world by trying to appease the legendary Pokemon then you'd feel the same way. "But for her to become a gym leader– Hmm."

Kyungsoo blinks twice, shivering when he hears the sound of an explosion on the other side. He curls in his toes when he feels his insides turning. _Dammit,_ he wants to scream, wants to shout at the top of his lungs. _Fucking get rid of the fucking shields because I have to see, I have to know if Baekhyun and his Pokemon are still alive–_ But he should know better than to lose control and let loose a couple of expletives in the presence of the gym leader. Trainers are given the opportunity to be part of the league based on their skill yes, but part of the criteria is also the way they carry themselves and act and react in tough situations. And cussing definitely doesn't yield good assessment scores. So he breathes out again, leans back against the glass and presses his ear to the surface even more to hear more of what's happening inside. Splits his attention and tells his brother on the other end of the line, "What's with the 'hmm'?"

Seungsoo hums. At this early hour it sounds more like a string of gurgles at the back of Seungsoo's throat, but Kyungsoo breathes in the sound, anyway, focuses on that and not on the sound of grunting on Baekhyun's side of the gym. Baekhyun's just sent out his Camerupt against Yura's Infernape. He snorts at the choice – Yura's, not Baekhyun's. What are the odds that Yura has used two out of the three Pokemon that the Rocket they'd faced in the hideout sent out against them, as well? "I just... I dunno, it just never occurred to me that she'd want to be a gym leader? I mean, she was more into Pokemon Contests, trying to become the best coordinator she can be. The training and battling shazzam was his brother's interest, not hers. Or at least that’s what she kept saying during those… trainer conventions back then. So it's just... really surprising, I guess? I mean, I'm not discounting her ability to make really crazy reads during championship battles, but if she's the same person that I knew some... I dunno, six, seven years ago? Yeah. If she's the same person I knew back then then I'll say she's not doing that because she wants to. She's heading the gym because she needs to."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Park Yura, he repeats it in his head, whispers the name into the wind as he worries his bottom lip. _Park_ Yura. Chanyeol – the supposed leader of the Pohang-si gym – is a Park, as well. But then how many Parks are there in the whole of South Korea? For all he knows Yura and Chanyeol are just very distant cousins. Maybe they'd just passed each other in the subway in the past, nothing more. Maybe they aren't even related to each other and aren't aware of each other's existence, at all. But the features, the similarities, _the choice in Pokemon–_ He isn't stupid to not be able to put one and one together. If Park Yura isn't somehow related to Park Chanyeol then she must have heard about him from somewhere. This isn't such a big world they live in, after all. Everyone knows everybody; it's impossible to see someone and call them a fresh face, someone you've never seen, glossed over, glanced at your entire life.

Some crashing sound again pressing against the glass, and then he hears a squeaking sound. It's bright, shrill, makes him shiver and makes his insides turn. He waits for the sound of Baekhyun's voice, waits for Baekhyun to call out his Pokemon's name to summon a switch in for the fainted Pokemon, but he hears nothing. No grunts or whispers or heavy breathing, not even a low groan that speaks of the injuries that Baekhyun might have sustained. Instead, he hears Camerupt crying out, loud and daunting, and then heavy footsteps fading out, inching away from where Kyungsoo is.

"Fuck," he mutters under his breath, then begins to pound on the glass. It's just a cry, he tells himself, Pokemon let out battle cries when they want to finish a fight early, nice and quick. Pokemon cry out when they're about to launch an attack with or without their trainer's orders. Heck, Pokemon make that sound when they're happy or hungry. It's _normal_ for Pokemon to let slip a sound so loud and deafening that even with the thickening distance between them the sound still fills Kyungsoo's senses and makes him shiver. And it's normal for him to keep pounding on the glass, desperately mumbling under his breath, "Open the doors, dammit. I said– I said open the goddamned doors!"

He hears another loud cry, different from that of Camerupt's but still so familiar to him. If he closes his eyes then maybe he'll see the image of the Pokemon turning clearer, crisper before his eyes. On the other side of the line, Seungsoo hasn't stopped asking, "What the _hell_ are you doing? Are you sure you're in a volcano and not in a war zone or something?" So when he catches his breath again, when he feels the racing in his chest still for the briefest moment and everything begins to make sense – it's Swampert who'd come out of the Pokeball just a few seconds ago, it's Baekhyun who'd hit the wall earlier but if he _did_ sustain nasty injuries then there's a slim chance that Baekhyun would be able to summon Swampert at all, _Baekhyun's alive_ – he breathes out and says to Seungsoo, "The lights in the main arena have shut down and there's no way in hell for me to see what's happening in the battle _right now._ "

Seungsoo laughs a little. Scoffs as he says, "You're worried about Baekhyun." It isn't even a question. It's a statement, solidified by years of knowing his brother inside and out and watching him grow. And Kyungsoo can't spare any energy to refute the statement because he's long past that. He's past the stage where he keeps refusing to accept realities and rejecting truths in his life that are being shoved right in his face. "But man, I heard the explosions. Are you sure you'll be alright there?"

Kyungsoo looks around him and heads over to where the doors are. He twists the knobs, tries to swing the doors forward, but to no avail – they're locked and even if he does knock hard enough on the doors, there’s very little chance for someone to hear him. He turns back to the conversation, then, telling his brother, "I'd go to the Center if I could," then returns to the barrier keeping the two sides to the gym apart. “And the doors are locked. I'd burn them to the ground if I could but I'm not sure if that's the wisest thing to do right now. What if the volcano erupts of something?"

Seungsoo breathes out, laughs a little. Says nothing more than silence, like he knows it's enough to get his message across. He means, you're all alone now but I have faith in you, Kyungsoo. _If you ever lose faith in yourself then please know that your brother still believes in you._ But where will belief get him? It won't get him to the other side, won't get him out of the gym. Won't let him reach out to wherever Baekhyun is and pull Baekhyun to the safer side of the place they’re trapped in right now. It's rare for trainers to get injured during a gym battle even if the matches do tend to be a bit rougher than your usual fights in forests or on streets, but then nowhere in the League rules is it stated that the opposing trainer cannot inflict harm upon other trainers during battle. You can be the most courteous trainer outside an arena and the still be the most heartless, the most _ruthless_ as soon as you step on your side of the field, poised for battle.

Fucking rules, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. And _fuck,_ the lights are dimming where he is right now but at least the doors to the other side are sliding to the corners again. He can now see the look of triumph on Yura's face, the way a corner of her lips curls up in the faintest, smallest smile like it's taking too much effort for her to speak of victory using her body.

He looks around, squinting as the smoke clears. The arena is mostly empty, rid of any rubbles or cracks on the ground or _any form of damage_ on the field that are from the battle Yura has just had with Baekhyun. And there's no sign of Baekhyun anywhere, either. All he can see now is the vast plain, Yura's figure guarded by two pillars on either side of her, and the way she turns to him with a soft, gentle nod like she’s inviting him to come closer. "Did you manage to get out now?" Seungsoo asks on the other end of the line, and Yura isn't addressing him yet, hasn't called him by name, so he draws the Gear close to his lips to answer.

"No, not yet," he whispers. He takes a deep breath. "But Baekhyun did."

↔

When Professor Kwon said that the time and space misalignment was going to affect not only those two but part of their realities, Kyungsoo wasn't expecting this.

He takes a few steps forward, into the actual arena of the gym and leaving behind the dark and cold lobby he'd been trapped in for a little under an hour. He can still feel the dregs of the cold numbing his fingers, wrapping around his knuckles and making him shiver, but for the most part he feels warm. Then hot, _and then_ humid in a span of ten seconds. He seethes at the prickling sensation, at the sight of the pit of lava just a few feet away. Too bright, part of his brain registers; too fucking freaky, says the other part, voice shivering at every drop of the syllable. If there _is_ ventilation here then it isn't enough. His chest keeps tightening and his throat feels dry and every part of him feels like it might melt any second now. He can feel sweat trickling down the sides of his face, can feel the droplets spill over onto the corners of his eyes to make him wince. And he can taste his sweat where it catches, unknowingly, on the seam of his lips. “Fuck, wrong move," he grumbles when he licks his lips out of habit more than anything else. _Also, really gross–_

“Greetings, Do Kyungsoo, and my sincerest apologies for having to keep you in the dark,” says the leader now, the corners of her lips curling up into a bright smile. It looks like a grin, what with the way her cheeks are pulling up in accord, making her lips fall open and surprising light laughter from her. Her eyes are empty, though. Vacant. It’s almost as if half of her face is frozen into a smile and it’s only her eyes that are speaking of the truth. “I guess I got a bit too excited after… getting challengers after a serious drought."

_A drought?_ Impossible, Kyungsoo muses. Before the war, schedules for gym challenges were always so packed that the gym leaders _had_ to hire junior trainers to filter the good challengers from the really-good-challengers. Some gyms even extended their operating hours to nine, ten in the evening just to accommodate battle requests. Sure, the war has somehow quenched, albeit unknowingly, the thirst of some people to battle and make younger, less capable trainers cry, but even then – there's almost always a trainer looking to earn a gym badge. Some even challenge the gym leaders long after they've already won over the leaders just to gain some experience, discover new things that their Pokemon can do that 'normal' battles in the streets or even in routes connecting cities, in the forests.

Or maybe in this dimension, there aren't too many challengers, a voice at the back of his mind says in a tone so bright and shrill. He shivers a little. He can feel a traitorous cold wrap around his neck and drum beats on his skin, along the column of flesh. And then the same sensation is pressing harder on the base of his throat where he can feel his pulse the strongest. He chokes on his own spit. It's ridiculous. It's almost as if his body is slowly developing a knee-jerk reaction to the leader's statements, reacting on his behalf and broadcasting his thoughts even before he can process his feelings. So he takes a deep breath in an effort to ease the tension in his chest, flexes his fingers until he feels the pads of his fingers thaw out. Licks his lips again, this time avoiding the corners, as he asks, "Where... Where did the previous challenger exit? I didn't see him leave. Not through the front door, at least."

The leader – Yura, not the Rocket they'd faced a few days ago – chuckles. She shrugs, cracks her neck, then takes a few steps forward, leaving the place where Kyungsoo had seen her an hour ago, before welcoming Baekhyun into the arena, and just a few minutes ago when Yura addressed him with a curt smile. "Maybe because he _didn't_ leave, Do Kyungsoo- _ssi,_ " Yura replies, drawling her syllables as she saunters even closer. From where Kyungsoo is, he can make out Yura's features better – her hair is a light shade of brown, toeing the line between hazelnut and orange. Her eyes aren't so vacant – her eyebrows just aren't as expressive as that of most people Kyungsoo knows. And her cheeks aren't showing signs of life. She's still smiling and the corners of her eyes are crinkling _just a little_ but her cheeks aren't even tugging up as a result of that smile on her lips. They're just there, sort of stuck, and Kyungsoo has to remind himself that it’s rude to stare especially at someone who might be the public enemy he's supposed to be taking down, not only to earn a badge but also for the sake of mankind. "Or maybe he was never here, to begin with. What do you think?"

I think this is weird, scary as fuck, _unreal._ That's what he thinks this is. He doesn't voice it out, though. Instead, he cranes his neck, trying to look for a door, a crack on the wall, any sort of passageway that would have allowed Baekhyun to exit through the back of the gym instead of where they came in from. "And no, you won't find anything there. I'm not hiding your friend, Do Kyungsoo-ssi."

He cringes. He doesn't hate his name; he just doesn't like the way the syllables roll off Yura's tongue. She makes his name sound like poison, venom. She makes him sound like _he's_ the bad guy when, in fact, it should be her brother. Or cousin. Or distant relative. Maybe the entire Park clan is part of Team Rocket and the organization is just a monopoly. He shuns that thought away, tells himself, don't make baseless judgments. Don't think ill of her just yet. Just focus on getting your badge and _getting Baekhyun back._

"So where did he go, then?"

She locks her arms behind her back and stretches, grunting when she feels the resistance in her muscles. "I keep forgetting the name of the place, but I'm pretty sure I'll remember in a few minutes, give or take." Then she inches closer to the system scanner and takes the case just beside it, flipping the cover open to reveal four Pokeballs inside. "So entertain me for a bit? Didn't you come here to try to earn the Blaze Badge after defeating me? Is that all you're after – the win, so you can get a badge from me and be one step closer to fulfilling your dream of participating in the Pokemon League?"

Not you, but your brother, he's tempted to say. He’s here for her brother who’d faced them back in the Rocket hideout, the same guy who fucked up the balance in the world by capturing the legendary genies. He sucks in his bottom lip for a moment, hesitating, then spills soon after. "Park Chanyeol, actually – he's the one I was supposed to challenge. That's what's reflected in the League records, at least: that Pohang's gym leader is a certain Park Chanyeol, not Park Yura."

Yura cocks an eyebrow at him and hums. "You know my name. I'm... pretty flattered," she begins, laughing as she ends. She purses her lips for a moment like she isn't sure – of what to say, what to do, why she's even here instead of elsewhere, possibly preparing for a Pokemon contest. Like she isn't sure how to feel just yet. After a while, she heaves a sigh. "Chanyeollie hasn't been around in months. He hasn't been... home, not in a while," she continues. She doesn't pick her three Pokemon to use for the match, doesn't slot the Pokeballs in the little holes in the machine just yet. Instead, she kind of just stares at Kyungsoo, head tilted to the side, a corner of her lips tugged up more than the other. She looks much more human now, Kyungsoo muses, less of the robot she'd looked like earlier and less of a lookalike of her brother. And maybe she's feeling it, too. She's cracking her knuckles and pushing the red button on her side of the scanner system and she's calling out to him, saying, "I'll tell him you asked for him, though. And that I'm pretty surprised he talks about me with his friends. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that a friend of his has been looking for him."

Kyungsoo snorts and reaches for three Pokeballs from his belt pack. He's decided on his roster already, before going to bed. These are the safest picks for anything that Yura might summon. These are the three Pokemon that are sure to land him a victory, or at least tie the scores with Yura so they can push for a last match, a tie-breaker. "We're not friends."

"Oh? Pity." She lets out a long exhale, then cocks her head in Kyungsoo's direction as if saying, go on, press the damned button. Let's get this match started because I'm _itching_ to battle for myself and just have fun, not for the gym, or even my brother. "You'd probably good for him. You seem like the... type who'd have direction."

Forward, always forward, never looking at either side of him – yeah, sure, he has direction. He'll keep walking on the road ahead even if he knows he'll be running into a roadblock. Then he'll walk over that, try not to fall on his knees for fear of getting wounded. He has enough scars on his body to remind himself of his bad decisions. He doesn't need more.

"And you'd be the type to introduce her brother to people he might not like," Kyungsoo answers after a while, laughing a little. Part of him wants to just sit down and have coffee with Yura. And then he'll extract information on Baekhyun's whereabouts as he watches her sip her morning coffee, not even touching his. "I'm locked in. Sorry for making you wait."

Yura shakes her head and waves him off, then turns on her heel. "Sorry for making _you_ wait," she says, but doesn't even look over her shoulder. She could be talking to the wall or the gold pillars or to Baekhyun who's trapped somewhere in the gym. She could be changing her mind about introducing Kyungsoo to her brother. He doesn't know how to feel about that.

She stops in her tracks, then turns around to face him. There it is, he muses – lips pressed thinly together, the corners of her lips not quirked up as much anymore. Her eyebrows raised in a gentle, gentle lift, just enough to pose a challenge but not a threat. Standard gym leader look. For someone who might not be so fond of battling, she sure is taking this job a bit more seriously than she should. "I assume you know the rules by now, given that you're vying for your–"

"Fifth badge," Kyungsoo answers. He digs his hands in his pockets. From were he is, he can see the light cock of Yura's eyebrows, the way she juts out her bottom lip like she's thinking, ah, I thought he was weaker. Wish he could be one of those less experienced trainers so it would be easier to give him a beating. This isn't Yura's lucky day, though. "Would've been my sixth if I'd gotten the chance to challenge the leader of the Seoul Gym."

"Ah, Seoul," she says, then chuckles. She locks her arms in front of her, then flexes her fingers. "Anyway, _the rules._ Just as a refresher more than anything else, because it's part of the protocol." _Program,_ a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. Yura looks as if she's been programmed to blurt out the succeeding statements. Kyungsoo can't say he minds. At least this one's more predictable. And predictability lends him another quilt of comfort, security. "The one who scores more knock-outs in the best of three series wins the battle. The Pokemon may make use of the entire field to battle, and may even use the set up to their advantage. More importantly, all challengers are allowed to change their Pokemon at any given time, whereas the gym leader cannot switch picks until her Pokemon is knocked out."

That's a bullshit rule, Kyungsoo mumbles to himself. He needs to see all the Pokemon Yura has chosen to bring to the match. He just needs to see one Pokemon, that one Pokemon that the Rocket they faced summoned before they disappeared into thin air. If he sees that in Yura's roster or sees any legendary Pokemon _at all_ in her picks, then he can make a safe assumption that they're all wasting time just protecting this city when Chanyeol and Seoul's gym leader, Jongdae, can be attacking other places in the country.

Yura beams at him in earnest now, lips pressed together but the corners of her mouth pulled up. "With me so far?" she asks, snapping her head upright again and slipping into her gym leader skin. Just like Minseok, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. Just like Jinki and Joonmyun and Minseok and every other gym leader he's met – once they step onto that platform, step inside their 'box' in the arena, they're all one and the same.

_She's the sister of your biggest villain, Kyungsoo. Get your act together. Don't get too soft now,_ a voice, bright and loud, blares in his ears. It doesn't sound familiar, doesn't sound anything like himself or Baekhyun or even Sunyoung and Soojung. It doesn't even sound like his mother, but it does make him shiver the way her mother makes him cower in fear when she gives him a stern look after staying out in the beach past seven in the evening. He was only six then; her wrath was warranted. And Kyungsoo probably didn't deserve to eat some of the yummy treats she'd reserved for him before Seungsoo could finish everything.

"I think I'm good," Kyungsoo answers after a while, then cracks his knuckles. She nods, sways from side to side, but doesn't clutch a Pokeball in her hand just yet. She's stalling time, he's pretty positive. He didn't see her do this before, while she was up against Baekhyun just an hour ago. They picked their Pokemon and the lights went out and the next thing Kyungsoo knew he was hearing crashing sounds, explosions, heavy breathing and loud cries. Almost everything happened in a flash. So he makes the first move, presses the middle of the Pokeball in his hand at the moment and tosses it just a few inches off his palm before holding it tight again. "And I'm ready whenever you are."

"Just like the other kid," Yura whispers, then she's reaching for a Pokeball from deep in her pocket. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows a bit; he didn't even see her taking the capsules out of the system scanner. He shakes his head, then, trying to focus on the situation – on Yura spinning the Pokeball on her index finger, on Yura offering him a sly smile as she clutches the Pokeball in her hand before tossing it in the air. "I'll give you the lead advantage. I like a challenge every now and then. Go, Infernape!" she says, and then the capsule's bursting open, the Pokemon coming out of the bright beam of light and stretching out on the ground on the arena primed for battle. "Okay, let's have some fun!"

Three counts, then black curtains – or at least that's what they look like – drop from above. Infernape lets out a loud growl and bumps its fists together, then stars running, tumbling into a ball of fire and scoring red lines along the arena. Yura hasn't even called out an attack yet, but from the looks of it she isn't even planning to. She's just sending out a Pokemon, letting it battle in its own without giving orders or telling it when to duck or dodge.

"Go, Pelipper!" he says, then, summoning his first pick for the first battle of the series. He watches as Pelipper comes bursting from the capsule, as Pelipper circles the place they’re in and gives its surroundings a quick look. Pelipper's already memorizing the slopes and dips and grooves on the walls like it's planning to do _something_ to the arena. Nothing new, really, since taking full advantage of the field has always been one of Kyungsoo's signature strategies, but Kyungsoo can't help but feel his stomach lurch a little, can't help but curl in his toes and bite the inside of his cheek. This isn't like any of those fields that they've tried to freeze over or thaw out in the past – they're inside a volcano and there's lava all around them. The only way for a water-type Pokemon to get accustomed to temperature as humid as this is to–

"Pelipper, use Hurricane on the lava, now!"

Pelipper cackles at the last drop of the syllable, nodding at Kyungsoo for a quick second before beginning to fly closer to the ceiling, still in a circular path. " _Clever,_ " Yura comments, then crosses her arms over her chest. "But did you seriously think you'll be able to cool the lava that easily?" Kyungsoo would answer with an easy 'no', not even giving his reply much thought, but he's much too focused on watching Pelipper fly, studying the movement of its wings carefully so that he'll know _exactly when_ to ask Pelipper to take a dive and fly straight into the middle of the funnel before releasing the winds from its control and sending the cool winds crashing to where the pool of lava is. He risks a glance at Infernape – it's doing its own set of preparations, rolling around the field in a flame wheel that makes its skin look like a bright, bright red instead of the usual brown that it should be.

That's not Flame Wheel, though, Kyungsoo notes as Infernape steps up its game and goes faster, much faster than before. Flame Wheel scores lines of flames on everything it touches, but that's it – there are no other gains aside from damage output. It isn't like Flare Blitz that comes with recoil damage _and_ a chance to burn your opponent, and neither is it like Fire Fang that gives you a high chance of flinching your target. This isn't an attack he's seen being used in tournaments–

"Flame Charge?" he mutters under his breathing. One more round and Infernape goes faster, even faster than it already is. Any quicker than this and Infernape might just crash into the walls if it ever goes off-track. It might even burn down the entire arena if this keeps up _and_ get itself severely injured in the process. He shakes his head. No good trainer would do that. No good trainer would allow his or her Pokemon to put itself in harm's way even in exchange for victory, fame, fortune. And if Yura is anything like her brother then she can't be all bad.

She can't be all good, either.

"Now, _Thunder Punch!_ " Yura screams from her side of the arena, her voice cracking as it peaks. Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath, and watches as Pelipper goes for one last round and then flying even higher so that Infernape can't catch it. But Infernape is smart, possibly even smarter than any other Pokemon Kyungsoo has every seen – it envelops it fists with a strong electric charge and scales the thick wall of winds, climbing higher until it reaches the midpoint of the funnel. For a moment, Kyungsoo stops breathing, just widens his eyes before Pelipper pulls away from the funnel and blows Air Slashes _at_ the tower of winds that it has created, but soon he shakes himself out of the trance and scours his mind for something, anything that Pelipper can do to prevent the Infernape from getting even closer to Pelipper too many feet off the ground.

It can only attack with one hand, Kyungsoo muses. Infernape _has_ to hold onto the wall of winds or else it will just slip. So the chances of Infernape actually _connecting_ with a Thunder Punch are slim, but then– "What else, what else– _What else_ can Infernape do," he whispers to himself. He goes through footages of Pokemon matches that he's seen in the past in his mind, tries to review them in his head and looks for a battle with an Infernape involved. It _can_ just use the funnel as a jump-off point and spring itself up so it can launch itself onto Pelipper _then_ attack using Thunder Punch, and from such a close range Pelipper will be taking a shitton of damage. Pelipper will faint in an instant, Kyungsoo's sure of it, but then Infernape is also putting itself at risk by depending on Pelipper for a safe landing back on solid ground. One wrong move and Infernape will come crashing to the floor alongside Pelipper, and it's not as if both Pokemon are just ten, twelve feet off the ground. They're already close to the ceiling, and falling back to where they started means aching muscles and broken bones.

Both Pokemon won't just faint, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo’s mind says. This means instant death for both of them.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and shakes his head. This is it, he thinks – _this_ is the play that Yura has set _Kyungsoo_ up for, the play that she has trapped Kyungsoo in because there's no other way to go about things now. She may not be going all-out on the offense but tricking her opponent, tricking Kyungsoo into thinking that there's no way Infernape can ever reach Pelipper at that height is probably the best offense in this game thus far. And Kyungsoo's only ever left with the option of telling Pelipper to fly low, fly close to the ground, making it easier for Infernape to launch its entire weight onto Pelipper's body _and then_ hitting Pelipper with a nice, clear Thunder Punch to the gut.

He seethes, grinds his teeth. Balls his hands into tight fists, as well, as he fights every urge tell Yura, well, _fuck you._ You and your Pokemon can go to hell. Don't fucking take my Pelipper with you. And then he breathes out into the air around them growing even hotter, the force of the Hurricane attack not quite enough to douse the flames and cool the lava. To hell with trying to cool the ground – he's going to fight fire with fire. If Yura’s Infernape is going to take Pelipper to the ground with a single hit then he'll attempt to do the same to Infernape. If Yura wants wicked tricks and crazy strategies then he'll give her that. He’ll even blow up the entire arena if he wants her to. He's good at that, turning unfortunate situations into good ones, ones that swing in his favor. And he'll shove that in her face and make her regret everything that she has done.

He cranes his neck, trying to see how Pelipper is doing. No wounds on the tips of its wings, or even scars from its battles in the past. Pelipper looks like it's in tip top shape, but then the health bar on the monitor is saying that it was already taken some damage from _whatever attack_ the Infernape has launched onto it. Did the electricity from the Thunder Punch really travel that fast, from the body of the Hurricane to the mouth where Pelipper was still hovering? Did _he_ somehow miss something while he was just watching Pelipper and making sure that his Pokemon didn't veer from the track or the tight circle it was flying in? Did he fuck up again? _Can't be,_ a voice at the back of his mind says, rings in his ears again and again until it's all that he hears even with the loud whipping sound of the winds around them. And then it hits him – the peculiar coldness draping on his shoulders, curling around his ankles, knocking at the back of his knees. Infernape wasn't going for an attack on Pelipper. Not directly, at least.

"Fuck this–" he groans, then shakes his head in a quick liquid motion. Yura's made her Infernape _charge the atmosphere_ with electric energy so that it would impossible for Pelipper to fly around so fast. Sure, it will slow down her Pokemon, as well, but who needs aerial power if you can achieve speeds that are normally unimaginable to the human brain? Infernape's moving so fast now after being charged by the energy from its Flame Charge attack, running along walls as it builds the electric power in its fists and tries to catch Pelipper off-guard. And Pelipper's flying closer to the ground now, just a few feet off the surface. Kyungsoo narrows his eyes a little, trying to get his vision accustomed to Infernape's newfound glow, but it's difficult; Infernape keeps burning brighter by the minute, like at any moment it can just burst into flames without being consumed by its own power.

He clenches his fists a little then unfurls his fingers when he spots Pelipper making a nose dive _and then_ taking a sharp curve as it flies up again. If Infernape ever goes too fast that it can waltz in the atmosphere and even _fly_ then he can always withdraw Pelipper, go for type immunity or something. Flygon should be a good match. He snorts – Infernape's attacks would do piss-poor damage to his Pokemon. And with the rules standing as such, Yura will be forced to a Pokemon deficit to the face after Flygon makes quick work of Infernape–

"Unless it has Ice Punch, of course," Kyungsoo groans, mostly to himself as he switches between looking at Infernape and watching Pelipper alternate between flying high and then low. Pelipper turns a sharp curve and this time Infernape isn't able to catch up, bumps against the wall and lets out a loud, throaty groan. He shudders at the sound, shivers when he feels a cold wave crawl up his nape despite the prickling heat all around them. And maybe Pelipper's feeling the heat now, as well – no more wicked turns at every corner, no more deep dives every ten seconds. Pelipper's actions are more careful now, calculated, not allowing an opening for error.

_One more curve and–_ Infernape bumps into the wall again, the force of impact pushing it away from the point of collision and making it skid across the ground. From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Yura grimacing, her entire body giving a tiny jerk as she frowns. And he winces when he sees the nasty cuts along Infernape's arms, its legs, when he sees the gashes on its cheeks. Part of him wants to let Yura heal Infernape up, tell her to let her Pokemon rest because Pokemon are far more important than battles and badges. No victory can ever make up for a fallen Pokemon. But then there's another rule, unspoken but recognized by all: you only have the right to give up the moment your Pokemon, itself, gives up on the fight.

Infernape pushes itself off the ground. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, then, and holds all the air in his chest as he feels the pulse at the base of his throat thump harder. He tries to swallow around it but even his throat is rebelling against him. And the flames on Infernape's head begin to burn brighter, the tongues of fire whipping on the wind without any direction, and then– _This is familiar,_ he whispers to himself, eyes widening in recognition. He's seen this before on television, during one of Seungsoo's matches, except Seungsoo was telling his Meganium after it had taken too much damage already from the opposing Typhlosion, _hang on in there, shouldn't take too long! C'mon, now, Meganium– Alright, Overgrow's kicking in! Use Outrage on Typhlosion, now! Give it all you've got!_

"Air Slash on the Infernape, now!" he screams at the top of his lungs, lunging as he does so. He's met with Infernape's sharp gaze when he looks up, the Pokemon's eyes aglow much like the rest of its body. This is it, Kyungsoo muses, Infernape at 'Blaze-point' where its health drops so low that the only thing that's keeping it on its feet is the sheer determination to win. Its power surges to great heights, yes, but for something in return – frailty, the probability of falling to even the weakest of attacks when struck the right way. A single Air Slash to the face can cause Infernape to faint. Heck, all of Pelipper's attacks are sure to leave a dent on Infernape's performance and knock it out without a doubt.

One Air Slash grazes the side of Infernape's arms, and the Pokemon falls to the ground in a loud thud. Kyungsoo breathes in, lets out the air in his lungs in a huff as he watches Pelipper aim Air Slashes to Infernape's wrists, pinning the opposing Pokemon to the ground. Two more hits, both aimed to the ankles, and then Infernape's now immobile on the field. Infernape groans and growls and _seethes_ at Pelipper who's swooping low now, taunting the Infernape even more, but that's about all that the Pokemon can do now. With the pressure of the Air Slashes holding it down and Infernape being weak to Pelipper's flying-type attacks, Kyungsoo's sure to win the first round now.

But then Yura's still smiling. Her shoulders aren’t tense and she’s even leaning back a little, arms crossed over her chest and chin tilted up. Kyungsoo blinks a few times, then, and even squints to see if he isn't just imagining things, but the gentle upward curl on the corners of Yura's lips still remains. Her Pokemon is saying ‘I give up, master, _I give up,_ ' but her body is saying, ‘you can’t surrender just yet, Infernape. _Don’t let me down–_ '

“Scald on the Infernape, now!” he calls out to his Pelipper, then nods at his Pokemon when Pelipper sneaks a glance at him in affirmation. He holds two thumbs up – Pelipper likes that, has developed a fondness for it after it saw Baekhyun doing the same with his Ludicolo – then curls in his thumbs with the rest of his fingers to pump both his fists in the air as a sign of support. He feels a bit ridiculous doing this just to cheer his Pokemon on because even as a Ralts, Gardevoir has _never_ needed to be validated this way, but then each Pokemon is different. And every battle is different. Pelipper isn’t coming back from a huge loss; it’s trying to regain momentum after leading almost the whole time but falling prey to Yura’s well-planned-out strategy. And that’s ten times more difficult than knowing you have no chance of emerging victorious from battle and then suddenly finding your win condition.

“Shake it off, Infernape!” Yura screams, hands balled into fists in her sides. Infernape cries out, loud and shrill, and pulls way from the whips of air Pelipper had used to pin it to the ground with. Kyungsoo shivers. “Thunder Punch, one more time! Make it count!"

Speed – that's it, Kyungsoo's biggest opponent in this match. It's the very thing keeping his Pelipper from dishing out more damage than it should, the main reason why Infernape is still alive despite already taking too many Air Slashes to its body and a handful of Scalds, as well. Pelipper's attacks are connecting with the opposing Pokemon, sure, but they just keep _grazing_ Infernape – the sides of his limbs, the tips of its toes, the thinnest fiber of the flame on its head. Every part of Infernape is scarred, scathed from Pelipper's attacks, but those glimpses of damage are not enough to bring Infernape down.

Pelipper ducks out of Infernape's reach again and swipes its wings along Infernape's side, trying to bring Infernape down. Infernape doesn't dodge, doesn't even try to elude the attack. Instead, it stays there and rubs its knuckles together before landing one, two, three Thunder Punches to every part of Pelipper's body. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, holding it in for the quickest second, then he's screaming his Pokemon's name, trying to flush down all the other sounds, words, expletives threatening to spill from his lips and earn him a bad name in the League. "Pelipper– Flap your wings harder and use Air Slash _again!_ "

Infernape lets out one last cry before launching itself onto Pelipper. Bound by Infernape's limbs wrapped around its body, Pelipper stops mid-flight and starts dropping to the ground at an incredible speed. Pelipper can use this, Kyungsoo muses as he watches his Pokemon rush to the ground, as he tilts his head a little to check on Yura on the other side of the arena. Pelipper can use the speed to its advantage and maybe try to maneuver its body such that it can go down spiralling in a cone until it can form a tiny Hurricane attack using Infernape's speed. Very slim margin of success, but it's worth a shot. It's the safest way for them to get down. He can play dirty and recall Pelipper just before it hits the ground, but that's not how he plays. Or he can just let the two Pokemon experience the inevitable and come crashing down hard, risk breaking a few bones but still coming out of the experience alive.

And then a thought crosses his mind, a memory from a few weeks ago when he tried fighting off the Snorlax that almost tore down Chuncheon-si to pieces. He remembers making his Pelipper use Scald on the Snorlax at the same time that Gardevoir guided the Pokemon back to safety using its Psychic attack. He recalls inflicting a burn on the Snorlax, as well, albeit out of accident more than anything else. And he remembers the look of relief on the Snorlax's face when the stone wedged between two of its teeth had finally been extracted. Its eyes were slanted into slits and it was wearing the biggest, brightest smile Kyungsoo had seen that time. It almost felt as if he'd been doing everything right the whole time and all of his fuck ups somehow led to him becoming a better person who could save Pokemon.

He wants to wipe the look of pain off of both Pelipper's and Infernape's features. And cheesy, corny, _completely unlike him_ as it may sound, he just wants to see them having fun and enjoying the battle. Infernape's possessed by a different kind of power now, consumed by its own strength, and that's what's keeping it from performing at its optimum. It's difficult looking at them like this, faces scrunched up and cries strangled as they fight the force of the winds whipping against their bodies. It's _painful_ to watch them fight – each other, for a chance of survival.

So Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, tells Pelipper, "Use Scald on the ground, Pelipper! Full power!" Pelipper lets out choked laughter but nods at him, still, like it's saying, _now, you're talking._ He watches as the Pokemon opens its mouth, watches as Infernape loosens its grip a little as if it's helping Pelipper out, hoping they can land on the ground as safe as possible. A stream of water comes out of Pelipper's open mouth and hits the ground with much force, cooling a portion of the lava pit for the quickest of seconds and then turning up the temperature again, making the air all around them hotter than it should be. Kyungsoo shivers at the sensation, winces when he feels the heat prickling his skin. Then he cranes his neck and checks Yura, studies her features for a sign of concern or worry or just plain emotion, but all he ever gets is the faintest quirk of the mouth. At least she's still a bit human, a voice at the back of his mind says. And when Yura furrows her eyebrows when Pelipper runs out of steam for a quick second, Kyungsoo thinks, definitely still human.

He hears Pelipper letting out a loud cry at the last leg of the fall. Two feet off the ground now and the lava is still steaming hot, but Infernape soon balls one hand into a tight fist and slams it on the ground when they're only a few inches off of it. _Ice Punch,_ Kyungsoo whispers to himself, takes a deep breath as he watches the lava go from a bright shade of red to a deep and dark maroon, as he watches the lava cools and turns black. Only then does Infernape roll over to its side and to the ground, does it unwrap its arms from Pelipper and lie flat on the floor. From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Pelipper's chest heaving, can see freckles of black dust on the tips of its wings but no matter – Pelipper is still _breathing._ Infernape has its eyes closer and isn't moving an inch, not budging, but _his Pelipper_ is alive and letting out little bubbles laughter that make him shiver all over. A good shiver, the type that thaws out his cool, numb fingers and unties the knot in his chest, making him breathe more easily.

Five seconds, then Infernape’s body goes lifeless on the ground. Kyungsoo lets out a loud snort, then breathes out.

"The winner is Pelipper!" the system announces. Infernape's image on the display of the computer goes from dim visual of the Pokemon to a complete black. He takes a few steps to his side, trying to see the display better, then takes a deep breath. Two more Pokemon on Yura's team while he still has three, one of them injured and possibly at the brink of fainting. He can still find a use for Pelipper later, he's pretty positive, so he scoops Pelipper into his arms and sets it down on his side of the field, telling his Pokemon to take it easy, get some rest, "Use Roost to heal yourself up. Then I'm keeping you in your capsule just to be sure."

Pelipper hits Kyungsoo in the calf and Kyungsoo scowls in pain. Almost out of energy and yet Pelipper's still able to remind him one of the many reasons it's still in his six picks that he takes anywhere and everywhere. He and Pelipper had a rough start, not having matching battling styles; Kyungsoo thought back then that it was _impossible_ for them to be able to work together in perfect harmony. Pelipper liked making a show of executing attacks; Kyungsoo just wanted to get the show done and over with. Pelipper loved adding some flair to its moves; Kyungsoo would rather spend the amount of time Pelipper dedicated to jazzing up its movies to landing another attack on the opposing Pokemon. Pelipper _has_ always been the black sheep ("Black pelican. It's a black pelican. _Get it?_ " he recalls Baekhyun saying one time) of the team, after all, always defying Kyungsoo's orders before obeying him and executing the attacks with relative ease. It's the most playful of the bunch. Also the most troublesome, but then Pelipper has always managed to save itself and Kyungsoo's sorry ass all the time. So he doesn't reprimand his Pokemon now by pointing an accusing finger at it, doesn't even shoot Pelipper a stern look. Instead, he says, "Do that one more time and I'll make you do target practice for another hour," making sure Pelipper stares at him long enough to notice the smile on his lips.

Pelipper slaps him on the calf one more time, then laughs. "Rest up. Might need you later," he says, then turns on his heel to face Yura again.

"Intense first battle," she begins, then reaches for another Pokeball from the case. She examines the capsule this time, running her thumb along the surface for a second then hovering her finger on the button at the middle. Her grip weakens for a bit, like she still hasn't come down from the high of the battle. Kyungsoo snorts. He can't blame her for that. If Pelipper hadn't reeled him back to the moment then he'd still be shaking until now. His knees are still a bit weak, as it is.

"I never thought I'd be pushed to a deciding third battle. I mean, that hasn't happened in, what, months? Years?" She chuckles, throws her head back a little. Shakes her head. She doesn't speak for a while, but she does keep her lips parted. Part of Kyungsoo wants to ask, so what now? Are you still okay to battle? _Are you giving up?_ But then maybe Yura just needs some time to rest, recalibrate. Gather herself again and rework her strategy so that she can secure a win in the second battle so they can _indeed_ push the match to a deciding third set. She takes another deep breath and blows all the air out in a steady stream through the narrow parting of her lips. "Oh well! I guess you kids from Mokpo-si are just good. You're too good. I'm surprised you're still loitering in the streets and not being recruited by some–"

Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow faster than he can say his own name or write it in big and bold characters. Not being recruited by _what,_ he's tempted to ask, tempted to demand an answer even as Yura's voice trails off into a whisper, a tiny upward curl on the corners of her lips, but _no._ He can't give himself away. Yura probably has an inkling as to who he is already but downright saying asking about if she meant 'being recruited by a certain evil organization by the name of Team Rocket' is just asking for trouble. And he's not here to brew trouble for the sake of feeling the rush of a thrill. He's here to earn a badge.

He digs one hand in his pocket and clutches a Pokeball with the other. He's here to get Baekhyun back, as well.

"Some _what?_ " he asks just the same, pushing the syllables for 'Team Rocket' to the back of his throat, instead. He maintains eye contact but makes sure to soften the stiff slants of his eyebrows as he looks up at Yura. "Something like the League?"

Yura snorts and rolls her eyes. All of a sudden, she looks like a kid, just an ordinary woman walking along the streets of Pohang-si with a boyfriend or maybe her Pokemon, not a gym leader substituting for her brother. She looks much younger but just as wise, only not as burdened with experience. And she looks like she's ready to throw a Pokeball into the air instead of answering Kyungsoo first. Maybe he'll get his answers later, after the match. And maybe then Yura will be able to tell him where she'd hidden Baekhyun or at least where she'd led him to right after the gym match. So he prods no more, simply reaches for two Pokeballs from his own belt case and plays with them until he can decide on which Pokemon to bring out for the next match.

"Mhmm," she begins, tilting her head from side to side, then breathes out. A little later, she adds, "A lot like the League except better," Yura mumbles after a while. Kyungsoo grips both capsules tight in his hand, stuttering a bit in his actions, then furrows his eyebrows as if telling her, asking her to repeat what she's just said. How can Team Rocket be better than being part of an elite group of trainers who have sworn to protect both humans and Pokemon at all costs? She's crazy, out of her mind. _Delusional._ She's already been brainwashed with sick and twisted beliefs that only ever work for people who think power is everything. "You have so much potential in you, kid. You don't want to put that talent to waste."

He shakes his head and takes a deep breath, then slips one of the Pokeballs in his belt pack. A cool shiver crawls up the slope of his neck as he snaps the capsule in place, as he runs his thumb along the surface of the Pokeball for one last time. It can be from the shrill squeaking sound he'd produced by rubbing his finger against the surface or even from the sudden drop in temperature in the room. He can't tell yet. So he takes a step back and stands inside his box, tossing the Pokeball in his hand a few times before saying, "I don't dig flattery, sorry." Gripping the Pokeball tight in one hand, he takes a deep breath then throws it forward, onto the field and out of his hands. "And I don't like it when opponents just let me win. You can't make me join whatever organization you have in mind by just handing me a victory, Park Yura."

"Ooh, feisty," Yura says, chuckling as she ends. Then she's tossing her own Pokeball into the air, sending out her pick for the second match. "I'll make sure to give you a hard time, then."

By 'a hard time', Yura means sending out an Arcanine and having it use Will-o-Wisp on Flygon right off the batt. Flygon manages to dodge the first attempt, even the second as it summons rocks from above and clinches a nice hit on Arcanine with a Rock Slide,. But with the burn hindering Flygon from attacking with its full power and Arcanine's ability – Intimidate – hampering Flygon's offensive capabilities, the Rock Slide doesn't do much. Just takes around 20 to 25% of the Arcanine's health despite fire-types being weak to rock-type attacks. No flinches, either, even as Arcanine winces once it receives the brunt force of the Rock Slide. "Hate that burn," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath as he orders his Flygon to dodge the oncoming ExtremeSpeed attack from Arcanine. He can always go with an Earthquake attack but Flygon learned how to use the move just yesterday. There's a very slim chance of missing the attack but Flygon doesn't know how much power to put into this new attack just yet to be able to knock out that Arcanine in one more or two.

Worth a shot, though, a voice at the back of his mind says. He leans back a little when he sees Flygon skid across the ground after taking an ExtremeSpeed straight to the gut. He winces when sees his Pokemon let out a loud cry but still try to get back in its feel and flap its wings, anyway. Flygon has slowed down, though, so he squints hard, trying to make out the damage on the Pokemon's wings. Nothing serious, but there _are_ a lot of bruises, some even fresh cuts. The tip of its tail is glowing an angry shade of red. And there's blood dripping on the ground from the huge cut on the side of Flygon's right leg. So maybe the injuries _are_ pretty serious; it’s difficult to gauge with the way Flygon keeps trying to get back into the battle. Kyungsoo leans forward, lunges, wants to hop onto the field right now and shield Flygon from Arcanine's attack, but Flygon gives him a long look and shakes its head as if saying, _I'm a big boy now. I can handle this. We all get hurt sometimes so what's another scratch?_

"Crazy Pokemon," he whispers, but inches away from the border of the field, anyway. He's not heartless; he's just following the rule where trainers are only allowed to give up when their Pokemon _tell them_ , enough with the battling and the hurting and trying to one-up each other. Enough with the fight. He watches Flygon and Arcanine speed to the far end of the court, exchanging attacks – Dragon Claw onto the Arcanine, ExtremeSpeed from the latter. Rock Slide straight to the face from Kyungsoo's Pokemon that Arcanine doesn't manage to dodge, but still survives with an ample amount of health. And through it all Kyungsoo keeps his hands balled into tight fists in his pockets, just tries to stay on his feet even as Arcanine growls at Flygon and Flygon falls flat on its back again, unable to stand after taking an ExtremeSpeed from such a close range. He stays like that, dangerously still, because the moment he panics, he's about a hundred percent sure that Flygon will feel it and start doubting itself, as well. That's not what his Pokemon needs right now.

"Arcanine, Close Combat on the Flygon, now!" Yura calls out from her end of the field. She has one hand cupped close to her mouth and the other with a finger raised in Flygon's direction. Kyungsoo has one hand fisted into the material of his pants and the other just floating in the air, fingers curled into a tight fist. Arcanine doesn't look over its shoulder, though, doesn't even give her a small nod in recognition, but it _does_ let out a loud roar before charging onto Flygon with a Close Combat attack. And it shouldn't do much, really, because Close Combat isn't an attack of the same type as Arcanine is, but the sheer power of the move is enough to make Kyungsoo's lips quiver and make his stomach lurch in several different directions.

He shakes his head, clears his throat, presses down on one Pokeball clipped to his belt. He can send out his last Pokemon but what if Arcanine knows how to use one of those grass-type attacks? Arcanine's one of those Pokemon who can learn a wide range of attacks, after all. He should know. He has a Growlithe that's looking to become a promising Arcanine. And if luck ever decides to work against him again then Arcanine might use Solarbeam the moment he switches into a different Pokemon. And Drilbur will be taking a beating from the attack. It just won’t be able to withstand a move as powerful as taht.

Then that's it – the second battle of the match will go to Yura. They're going to split the scores and even out the playing field to reach that mindblowing third game in the series. Yura might go on to win the last game in the match and Kyungsoo will have to return to this gym the following day, try his luck again at scoring two victories against Yura. Have Baekhyun wait wherever he is, this dimension or another.

_No fucking way,_ a voice at the back of his mind says, again and again, like a mantra, a powerful curse. He shakes his head, then, and bends a little, gripping his knees tight before saying, "Okay, now push the Arcanine to the ground and use Earthquake!"

From where Kyungsoo is, he can see Yura widening her eyes and letting her lips fall open into a tiny 'o'. It makes the knot in his chest loosen, eases the throbbing in his temples and helps him see more clearly. Nailed it, he says to himself, grins as he watches Arcanine struggle to get Flygon off of its body. On a normal day, it won't take much from Arcanine to throw Flygon off, what with Flygon only being half of its weight or close to it, but in its now weakened state it can only fight off Flygon so much. So Kyungsoo braces himself for the impact of the attack, for the shaking of the ground that he knows will soon make the soles of his feet tingle. And he grips his knees tight in an effort to keep himself standing on both feet instead of toppling over and crashing to the ground on his knees or flat on his ass.

Two light tremors and then the force picks up, the shaking of the ground growing stronger by the second. Yura's crouching low now, trying to stay as close to the ground as possible, and presses her palms to the floor. Kyungsoo's slipped his grip from his knees to his calves, and then his ankles. He can hear rocks rolling along the rough walls, can hear the ground beneath him crack little by little, pushing his feet further apart. He moves to safer ground, then, not as cracked as the one he’d been standing on for the past few minutes, maybe close to half an hour already, but to no avail – the soil has already become loose from the tremors of the Earthquake attack. Every step feels like dipping his feet into new waters. Every movement feels like his skin is being ripped from his muscles, feels like linking with Gardevoir through mega evolution except _ten times more painful._ He can feel gravel and sand on his skin again, except now he isn't falling to the ground while riding a legendary Pokemon to safety. He's trapped in a volcano, in this gym battle, and Arcanine is still pulling up a fight even after taking the receiving the brunt force of the powerful Earthquake attack from Flygon–

Kyungsoo's eyes shoot up when he hears Flygon's sharp, shrill cry, when the air around them thins and he's able to see through the falling rocks and the shaking of the ground again. Arcanine has its teeth digging into the side of Flygon's neck and _shit,_ Flygon's crying out again, thrashing about with every part of its body that it can still move despite Arcanine weighing down on his with its sheer size and the force of its attack.

"Keep at it, Arcanine!" Yura yells, coughing between words. She pounds on her chest, wheezing every so often. Kyungsoo presses the back of his hand to his nose, trying not to inhale the thickening scent of heat and rocks and defeat around him. But he doesn't press his parted lips together, doesn't thin them in to a line as he marvels at the sight unfolding in front of him, at Arcanine's determination to win and at Flygon still trying to find a way to turn things around. And that's what kicks Kyungsoo back to his senses, the same thing that makes the voices at the back of his mind scream at him, look, your Pokemon isn't giving up yet! C'mon, Kyungsoo, _think._ If there's anyone who can come back from such a bad situation then it's you. _It's you and Flygon._

He takes a deep breath and gulps down hard. "Flygon, use Dragon Tail, now!" he calls out in the loudest possible voice he can summon. His throat feels tight and dry, and everything that passes through it – air, sound – feels like these tiny blades scoring wounds on the walls, but he tries to push down the feeling. He tries to link with Flygon as he keeps his eyes fixed on his Pokemon and nothing, no one else. The first swing of Flygon's tail hits Arcanine's back and makes the opposing Pokemon pull away. The second makes Arcanine flinch, makes Arcanine growl in frustration and open its mouth wide again as if ready to launch another Crunch attack, but it never gets to. Soon, Flygon's hitting Arcanine with its tail again, and again, and again, until the fire-type Pokemon is pushed to the side with the mighty blow of the Dragon Tail attack.

Then Flygon pushes itself up to its feet, chest heaving as it tries to regain balance. Arcanine does the same, but falls short and only ends up trying to steady itself on its knees. And then it's the greatest standstill where Kyungsoo holds his breath, waiting and resisting in equal parts, hoping against hope that Flygon will stay standing much longer than Arcanine can despite the burn damage stacking up on Flygon, waiting for Arcanine to give up and give in to the call of fatigue. Wishing, wishing really, really hard that luck will swing his way and award the win to Flygon because it has fought so hard to get to where it is now.

But then they fall, both Flygon and Arcanine, flat on their stomachs on the floor, and stay dangerously still for the next few seconds. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks he sees Arcanine's body give a tiny jerk, like a second violent breath of life has somehow wound itself in Arcanine's lungs and has jolted it to consciousness, but no. Both Pokemon remain on the ground, still as the water, as the last few rocks from Flygon's Earthquake attack come rolling to the ground. And the thumping in Kyungsoo’s chest hasn’t stilled yet. If anything, it keeps going stronger, louder, wilder than before.

_Three_ , and Flygon moves around a little but doesn't really get up. It lets out a faint groan, and Kyungsoo can only suck in his bottom lip because rules are rules. He can’t come running to wherever Flygon is and just rush the Pokemon to the Center. There are rules to be followed.

_Two,_ and Arcanine looks up from where it's lying on the ground but remains there, chest heaving in an uneven rhythm. Yura parts her lips in thoughtless response, her entire body jerking in accord. Her hands are shaking; her lips, trembling, moving in weak, lazy patterns like she’s trying to say something but _can’t._ She reaches out with one hand, holds back with the other. Kyungsoo digs his hands in his pockets and _waits._

Then _one,_ and the buzzer sounds off, the characters for 'DRAW" flashing on the screen in big, bright strokes.

Kyungsoo lets his face fall forward, eyes shut tight as he tries to catch his breath. He digs his fists into the cooling ground beneath him, loosens it and splays his fingers on the ground. He wants to get up, wants to rush to wherever Flygon is, but he can't even feel his knees right now. All he can feel in the bottom half of his body are layers upon layers of pain, the prickling heat still hanging in the air making his wounds sting even more. His palms are sore from all the scratches and the pressing he's done with it in an effort to stay on his feet. The veins in his temples are throbbing. He got a few more scratches on his glasses from whatever destruction the two Pokemon had brought upon the little gym. At this rate, he won't just have to get new glasses; he'll have to make duplicates of them, as well.

"Arc–Arcanine!" he hears Yura scream, and only then does he try to tear his gaze from the gravel to look up. He follows Yura with his eyes, cranes his neck when she slips out of his line of sight. He blinks several times, refocusing his vision, trying to see better how Yura's dealing with the defeat. How she’s dealing with the near loss of her Pokemon, watching a match as great as this unfold right in front of her. Best seats in the house. But Yura keeps her back turned to him, crouches low on the ground as she scoops Arcanine's head in her arms and buries her face in Arcanine's mane.

He takes a deep breath, pushes himself up on his feet again but only ends up sending himself crashing to the ground, ass first. And then Flygon looks up, peeks at him with only one eye open and laughs a little. Silly trainer, it must be saying, must be _groaning._ But Kyungsoo doesn't care about that anymore; his Flygon is alive and that's what's important. Someone can chuck a Pokeball at him and he won't mind. He just won't crawl inside the capsule, though, but he won't fight back.

There's nothing but a thick sheet of silence all around them for the next few minutes, broken only when Yura grunts as she tries to move Arcanine around, checking the Pokemon's body for any cut skin, protruding bones. "The draw felt a lot like a loss. You... should've won that. The comeback from _my comeback_ was pretty brilliant," she mentions soon after, halfway through running her hand along the stretch of Arcanine's right leg. It's only the left leg that incurred too many wounds, Kyungsoo found out earlier when Arcanine let out a lot groan when Yura lifted that limb. Flygon grimaced, curled up in a nice little circle at Kyungsoo's feet. Kyungsoo reached out for his Pokemon and gave Flygon's head a little path, then recalled it to its Pokeball. He waited for the ball to shake, waited for the button at the middle to turn from red to its normal white, before clipping it to his belt because that's how he's known Flygon to be. It resists quick changes, especially those made within the same day. So he introduces a bit of routine to the process, eases Flygon into the newest brand of change it will be facing in the succeeding days. Because that's how Pokemon battles go – they're marked by routine and the start and at the end, but only just. In between, there's nothing but a pit of surprises to fall into. So you try to control whatever you can – diversity in Pokemon moves, in Pokemon types, taking advantage of type match-ups. You try to set yourself up for a win by researching on the trainer you'll be facing and remind yourself, time and again, that even the kindest of people can be the meanest of trainers on field.

Yura looks to her side for a quick second, then she's back to making sure that there are no longer any open wounds on Arcanine's limbs. "Not that I'm trying to flatter you or anything," she mumbles after a while, head still hung low. "But I guess we both got lucky during the last turn. It could've gone any way."

But luck decided to swing in my favor, Kyungsoo says at the very back of his mind. He laughs a little. In truth, it wasn't luck on his side at that time; it was the power of observation. After Arcanine used Close Combat, Flygon ended up having an opportunity to deal a lot of damage on Arcanine because Arcanine had used so much of its energy already that it would be difficult to fight back at once. Timing – that was what Kyungsoo had and Yura didn't. He waited for the right moment to strike; Yura waited for Arcanine to recalibrate before launching several attacks again.

"Maybe, maybe not," Kyungsoo says in reply. He unhooks the capsule of his last Pokemon for his belt pack, then spins the capsule on one finger. He only ends up doing half a spin on the ball, though, before almost dropping it to the ground. On the other side of the field, Yura snorts, rolls her eyes, shakes her head. Summons Arcanine back to its capsule and assumes her place in her trainer box again, wearing the same confidence in the stretch of her body, in the way she tilts her chin up, in the way she pulls her shoulders back and addresses Kyungsoo with a gentle nod. Too quick, Kyungsoo muses – it's almost as if she's memorized how to slip in and out of these personas so easily now, as if she's been doing this for _years._ Maybe this is part of the training she has received before assuming the role of 'gym leader'. Maybe this is training for the League at work.

Maybe she _does_ want to head a gym and hadn't just been forced to take over after her brother disappeared. And maybe now she's finally having fun in battle after being subjected to matches that leave her looking – no, _yearning_ for something more.

"So, third match?"

Yura laughs a little, then chucks the Pokeball in her hand in the air. "Begin."

↔

Kyungsoo's clearest recollection of the third and last match with Yura was seeing Heatran come out on the field. He's only seen this Pokemon exactly twice – first was on paper, while reviewing for one of those exams. The second was when the Rocket trainer – Chanyeol, he's still positive that the guy is indeed Chanyeol – sent it out and attacked with a Heat Wave as a last 'fuck you' before retreating to _wherever_ with the other Rocket trainer, possibly a Rocket executive. Jongdae or something; the name escapes him from time to time. So he'd taken a deep breath then, gulped down hard, wondered if it was better to just send out Pelipper to dish out as much damage as if could before it went down because it had already taken a lot of damage from the battle against Infernape, after all, instead of sending out his Drilbur. He wondered if Heatran actually had a way of hitting Pelipper for super effective damage and take it down in one hit. He wondered how Yura managed to capture a Heatran at all. Must be an illusion, he thought then – Zoroark _was_ a Pokemon known to mimic others, after all – but with each passing minute, with every loud roar Heatran let loose, he'd become positive that one, the Heatran wasn't an illusion; and 2) Yura wasn't all good. She was just like her brother, possibly even more evil.

So he said then, "Isn't Heatran a legendary Pokemon?", tried to keep his tone neutral, _inquisitive._

Yura chuckled, rolled her eyes, and let out a loud exhale as she countered, "And shouldn't _you_ be minding your own business, kid?"

I'm not a kid, was his first thought. His second, that's a legendary Pokemon, alright. He can't be mistaken.

He has no recollection whatsoever, though, of how he ended up where he is right now – lying flat on his back on the sand with the sun glaring at him. He blinks a few times and looks around him, trying to get an idea of where he is. More sand to his left, the ocean just a few meters from his feet. A Pokemon tied to _something_ he can't see to his right, and then a familiar face hovering him and saying, "Well, at least she had the decency to toss the badges into the portal. How nice of her."

"Hey," Kyungsoo says, breathing out as the memories come flooding in – sending out Drilbur against Heatran to dish out a great amount of damage _and_ scoring a victory for himself, rushing to where Drilbur was to scoop the Pokemon in his arms only to almost get crushed just seconds after when Drilbur evolved into a mighty Excadrill. Yura congratulating him for the win, but apologizing for what was about to happen. Sorry, Yura'd said then, sorry but I _have to do this,_ and the next thing Kyungsoo knew everything was going dark, and then blindingly white.

And now he's waking up to the sound of crashing waves, to the sound of a Pokemon letting out a low cry _and_ Baekhyun reaching for his face, then brushing his bangs away from his eyes. "You were out for an hour, asshole," Baekhyun groans. "You can't just _hey_ me like that!"

Kyungsoo pushes himself up, then, propping himself against his arms first before trying to sit up straight. He only ever ends up knocking his head into Baekhyun's face, though. He laughs a little. Coughs when he feels something thick and heavy lodge itself in his throat. The Pokemon moves closer to him, knocking one of its hooves against his leg, and that's when it registers – this isn't just some ordinary Pokemon. It's one of the members of the legendary Swords, the youngest in the group of four, and possibly the only member of the group that's been swept astray by the shift in space and time.

_Keldeo,_ he mutters to himself. He recalls hearing that name from Minseok one time, when he asked about the Swords, their behavior, where they came from. Why they're even opposed to being cared for by humans when the goal of training Pokemon is for humans to tame these creatures and for Pokemon to do the same to humans, as well. He shuts his eyes again, trying to collect himself. The teleportation has left his mind a bit messier than it already is. He presses his palms to his cheeks, then, before sliding them all the way up to his eyes like he's trying to get rid of the drowsiness so he can piece things together more easily. "Did you see the... Swords lurking? Did they... drop by or something?" he mumbles. Pounds on his chest to get rid of that fucking thing lodged in his throat so he can breathe and speak and make sense of things more easily. "Sorry, that sounds so– Okay, if you could just help me get up–"

Baekhyun grabs him by the wrists and tugs at them just a little, then yanks him out of lethargy until he's looking at Baekhyun in earnest with wide, wide eyes. "Stop. _Breathe._ Just–" Baekhyun shakes his head, laughs, lets his face fall forward until their foreheads touch, until the tips of their noses brush against each other. Kyungsoo takes a deep, shaky breath in response, inhaling the scent of the sea and the sun and sweat on Baekhyun's skin. He snorts. Baekhyun smells like a hundred wrong decisions rolled into one. He takes a whiff of it again, though, the sickening mix, until Baekhyun's poking the tip of his nose and saying, "Stop that. You're gross."

"Says the guy who looked like he was about to cry when I woke up," Kyungsoo counters, humming, then tries his best to wiggle his eyebrows. He only ends up lifting them like he can't believe himself, his words, the situation they're in, possibly trapped in an island miles away from the first sign of civilization yet still caught in a tight link of their bodies like this. "You've got dirt on your nose," he whispers, then, and leans in close enough to brush his lips against Baekhyun's skin. "Right there."

Baekhyun snorts a little but giggles, anyway. "Y'know what? We should stay here forever. Forget that we have three more badges to earn or something and just camp out here, then start filling the island with little Kyungsoo babies–"

"You won't like that. _I_ wouldn't want to meet another me. That's awful."

"Stop ruining my moment! Fuck you," Baekhyun grumbles, punching Kyungsoo in the chest just lightly. He twists his knuckles against Kyungsoo's skin like it's the only thing he can ever do to exact revenge – for what? For Kyungsoo taking too long to arrive at the island, more like get thrown into some portal by Yura, and so they could wallow in misery together? For Kyungsoo taking forever to display signs of life and stop freaking the fuck out of Baekhyun? For getting them into this mess because of his uncanny ability to draw legendary Pokemon to himself? Kyungsoo can't decide yet. His head still feels so heavy and the pulse in his temples is throbbing too fast. And Baekhyun's pressed too close to him, lips just hovering Kyungsoo's own, that if Kyungsoo decided to tilt his head _just a little_ then they'd be kissing already. "I'm just glad you're awake now. For a second there, I thought I'd have to lug your body around on my way back to... I dunno, wherever is closest to this deserted island."

Kyungsoo blinks a few times. Tries to look around, but Baekhyun snakes a hand up his nape and keeps him in place, keeps him from looking at anything, anyone else but him. "Where are we?" he tries, the words tumbling from his lips more easily now, then lets out a long exhale. "I think I saw... the dock at Pohang just a while ago."

Baekhyun shrugs. "Eh, who knows?" He pulls away now, bit by bit, until he's leaning back against his arms. He worries his bottom lip as he looks around to give the place a quick scan. Kyungsoo follows Baekhyun's gaze, then, looking around them and trying to find any markers that might hint at their location. Too much water all around them, hints of trees meters away from the shore. If he squints his eyes hard enough, he'll find a few buildings covered by the haze, but that's about it. His shitty vision's muddled all the more by the distance between the island and other parts of Korea that it's almost impossible to figure out where in the map they are. "That's Sokcho up north. That thing behind it's definitely Seoraksan. Then... Odaesan just a bit south?" Baekhyun chuckles, snorts. Rubs the underside of his nose before pulling his legs closer to himself and scraping sand closer to his body, as well. "That's all I have right now. I've been trying to contact Professor Kwon and the others but the signal here's pretty shitty. I can't even use GPS."

"Almost as if we're not on the map," Kyungsoo mumbles. He switches his Gear on, trying to pull up the maps application, but only ends up with the 'NO COVERAGE IN YOUR AREA' message glaring at him in big and bold characters. He gulps down hard. "Time and space shift. That thing's fucking us up big time."

"Worst part is that we're stuck here until we find a way out… A portal of sorts."

"Flying out doesn't work?"

"Duh." Baekhyun narrows his eyes at Kyungsoo's then drags his gaze down the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose _and then_ further south to the gentle swell of his lips. "You think I didn't try to get us out of the island while you were dozing off on the sand and _not helping out?_ "

Kyungsoo breathes out, long and loud, then coaxes Keldeo to come closer. The Pokemon isn't injured, not the slightest, but it does look so worn out and tired. Maybe it's been helping Baekhyun out with trying to look for an exit, trying to... swim across the sea, maybe, to get back to Pohang-si and exact revenge on Yura. Or maybe it's just worried sick about its other fellow Swords. _So that's it,_ a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. That's why the Swords are roaming the country again even with the Reveal Glass safe and sound in the hands of the legendary genies. So _that's_ the reason why they've been craning their necks in search for something, _someone._ And if it was really easy to get out of the island then Keldeo would have been able to do so already, no questions asked. Keldeo's a water-type Pokemon; cruising through the seas isn't a problem for it.

"Have you checked the boundaries of the island?" he asks after a while, risking a glance at Baekhyun. Baekhyun shakes his head, mutters something about 'just tried flying a couple of times but falling back down so I got _kinda tired_ of hoping. There’s a weird shield thing of sorts all around us.' Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek at that, tries not to add to Baekhyun's worries with another frown or a scrunch of his face. "Maybe we can go for a dive and escape through there, instead."

"But what if she built some invisible barrier even underwater?"

He heaves a sigh. "But what if she didn't?"

"But what if– What if we can't actually predict what she's thinking and _she can_ because we think like most normal people do so she'll push through with that border idea and she'll just reduce us to toast the moment we touch the stupid thing?"

Good point, Kyungsoo almost says. But he doesn't. Yura may be smart and a great strategist but there are things that you shouldn’t be overpredicting else paranoia will just course through your system like tainted blood. It doesn't leave a nice taste on the tongue. Kyungsoo should know – he’s swallowed that taste far too many times already for him to count. So instead of answering, he balls his hands into fists in the sand and digs his knuckles there, until he feels the cuts he'd gotten from the matches earlier remind him of the limits of his body, reminds him of having to take things easy, of having Pokemon around to help him figure things out. Then he splays his fingers on the sand and sends out his Sceptile, ordering the Pokemon to aim multiple Leaf Storm attacks out in the open so they can see the boundaries of the border, the spaces they can touch, the places they can travel to bring them steps closer back to the city where they came from.

"That's a good meter from the edge," Baekhyun comments, then seconds out his Ludicolo. Just sends it out, doesn't even call out an order, and keeps his eyes fixed on Kyungsoo. For a second, Kyungsoo feels as if he's missing something, missing the point, but then they're trapped in an island miles away from Pohang-si. They've got a legendary Pokemon that its siblings have been looking for in their possession. This is no time to be playing around, frolicking on the sand, wishing that they could have more time alone, away from all the chaos back in Pohang-si. _This isn't their time._ "I guess the barrier's thinning. I... tried to attack the invisible walls thing earlier and couldn't even get past the edges of the island. Couldn't make it past the shoreline."

"It was that bad?"

Baekhyun laughs a little. "Even worse when you dropped to the sand out of nowhere, but _eh._ " He shrugs, pushes himself up on one knee, then straightens out his legs to get back up on both feet. He even laughs, the corners of his lips tugging up as he shakes his head, almost like he's shaking off his apprehensions, his fears. Part of Kyungsoo wants to reach out to just bottle all of Baekhyun's uncertainties up and then throw them away, maybe onto the barrier and hope for whatever form of magic or twisted science Yura had used on it to make those feelings disintegrate, but he should know better than to do that. Baekhyun's the type who'll reach out to someone at the first sign of the person needing help, but will refuse getting help from anyone until he's exhausted every resource he has to sort out his own shit. "You're alive and awake now. And the barrier's getting weaker. Probably from all the attacking I'd done earlier. So I guess everything's better now?"

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath, feeling the tension in his chest unknot, then breathes out. He pushes himself off the ground, as well. Reaching up, he brushes his knuckles against Baekhyun's cheek. "We'll make it out alive. Soon. I promise."

"And Do Kyungsoo always keeps his promises," Baekhyun singsongs.

"Yeah, that," Kyungsoo mutters in response. "And Do Kyungsoo wastes no time, either, so get your ass moving."

Baekhyun chuckles. The grin paints his cheeks a nice shade of pink, makes his eyes turn into these cute little half-moon crescents. It makes Baekhyun _glow._ "That's my boy."

It takes them thirty whole minutes to be able to break down one side of the barrier. Just one side, because even with all the power of their Pokemon combined, the barrier is much too thick and powerful to just break down into smithereens. Signal from the outside seeps in, and the first sign of life on the other side that they get is a message, or two, or three, maybe even four. Two are from Professor Kwon, and the other two are from Minseok and Sunyoung, all of them checking on their whereabouts, trying to get in touch with them. For a moment, Kyungsoo considers sending a reply, but instead he sends a tracker for their location, tells Baekhyun to turn on his GPS again, hope for the best. Telling the professor that they're alive is good, but if they're able to have the team look into portals transporting people to different places near or far from the city then they'd be a step closer at cracking the mystery behind the shift in space in time.

In ten minutes, they break down an entire fourth of the barrier and force the transparent sheet to show its true color – a deep maroon.

In another ten minutes, both Altaria and Pelipper manage to power through the thinnest portion of the barrier and break through, then survey the surroundings of the island.

In another ten, Minseok and Professor Kwon arrive, riding their Pokemon just over the barrier, but disappear just as soon as they've come.

And on the very same minute, the barrier around them vanishes, drops to the sea in a loud splash at the arrival of two familiar faces that Kyungsoo isn't sure if he's glad to be seeing again.

"I believe we have to take back what's ours?" says the electric-type trainer – _Jongdae,_ that’s his name; Kyungsoo has to remember that – grinning from ear to ear. The mask he's wearing stretches across his features, matching the motion of his cheeks, then crinkles near the corners of his mouth when Jongdae presses his lips together in a smile. "If you hand Keldeo back _nicely,_ we won't harm you. Or Keldeo."

Jongdae hums for a moment, then continues, "At least for now."

Baekhyun scoffs. "Keldeo's not even _yours!_ "

"Oooh, we've got a jealous one right here," Jongdae says, humming as he ends. He moves even closer, then, flying closer to the ground than to the skies on his Zapdos. Runs a hand along Zapdos's spine, as well, and only chuckles when the Pokemon lets out a screech cry. Kyungsoo winces at that, shivers all over, because _fuck_ if that's not a cry of despair. He's been exposed to Pokemon ever since he was a kid and all those times that he's heard _something_ like this, he's only ever seen a Pokemon in pain. Wounded, scarred, maybe looking for a Pokemon of the same specie because it doesn't want to head out into the woods on its own. This isn't Zapdos's battle cry; it's call for help, maybe even a warning to both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun. Kyungsoo takes a step back, then, gives Zapdos a quick once over to see if there's any device attached to it that's making controlling the legendary Pokemon _and_ containing it in a Pokeball ten times easier than it should be. "You really want to get that Keldeo into trouble, don't you?"

"No good trainer will want to see his own Pokemon in pain," Kyungsoo argues. He clenches his fists, then steps to his side to shield Keldeo from the Rocket's view. The Rocket executive only rolls his eyes in response. "If you really cared about Keldeo then you'd know that keeping it trapped _here_ was scaring it."

"Okay, kid, two things,”Jongdae says now, shifting in his position on Zapdos. Zapdos tries to shake its wings, tries to shake the trainer off, but to no avail – he holds onto Zapdos like a fucking leech, doesn't even look like he's about to fall off with the grip he has on the leash on Zapdos's neck. Kyungsoo balls his hands into fists, seethes under his breath. If that asshole of a trainer wasn't more than five feet off the ground then he'd be slamming his fist onto that guy's face. People who force their Pokemon to do things completely against their beliefs and people who have zero respect for Pokemon shouldn't even be called trainers. They shouldn't even be using Pokemon, in the first place. "First, I love Keldeo _so much_ that I'd head out into a deserted island miles away from home just to pick it up and get it out of your dirty hands. So _please,_ don't tell me I don't care about the cute li'l thing. I do, trust me. I just... have a really weird way of showing that I care.

"And second, how could Keldeo get so scared? I mean, _come on!_ " Jongdae says, scoffing, laughing as he shakes his head. "I gave it an entire island as a playground! Shouldn't it be having fun here? _I_ would have fun if my parents gave me playground _this big–_ "

Baekhyun scoffs. "You forgot to give it food. And shelter. _And the fucking freedom to roam._ "

"Pssh. Let it hunt for food. There are tons of Magikarp and Feebas in the sea."

"That's not the point!"

Kyungsoo shuts his eyes and takes a deep, deep breath. He makes no effort to tighten his fists anymore; his knuckles and the back of his hand already feel too sore from all the clenching he's been doing. None of these takes more than a few seconds and he wishes he'd have more time to just gather himself again, his thoughts, his composure in the face of an asshole of a trainer, but _there's no time._ They should be attempting to get past these Rockets right now and worrying about taking them down later. Keldeo's safety is their primary concern, after all–

_Teleport,_ a voice at the back of his mind says. Gardevoir tried to use Teleport earlier but ended up failing because the barrier was suppressing its powers. With a huge fraction of the barrier now broken down, there's a better chance at Gardevoir seeing success, so he rests his palm on Gardevoir's Pokeball and whispers at the back of his mind, Big favor. I need you to bring Keldeo somewhere safe. And I need you to do it _now._

The Pokeball gives a tiny shake in response, sort of like Gardevoir's saying, _if you really wanted to summon me already then keep your hand off the capsule so I can just get out._ He takes both Gardevoir's Pokeball and the one beside it, then, chucking them in the air as he says, "Growlithe, Snarl on the Zapdos, now!"

Baekhyun laughs a little, scoffs, then summons two of his own Pokemon to join Kyungsoo in the offense. "Ludicolo, Altaria, I need you now!" he calls out, but doesn't part from Keldeo just yet. He still has a hand on the legendary's Pokemon's nape, and he's still standing too close to it that if Keldeo wasn't so sold on its private space being breached then Baekhyun would probably be on the ground right now and taking an attack or two to its gut. Kyungsoo looks to his side, then, risking a glance at Baekhyun before dropping his gaze to where Keldeo is. The Pokemon isn't shaking anymore, at least. It isn't even furrowing its eyebrows anymore. It just steps to its side, moving even closer to Baekhyun, then shifting its gaze from Kyungsoo to Gardevoir in a blink of an eye.

Zapdos lets out a loud cry, and all of a sudden the light filtering down on them thins into dust. The next thing they know, the skies are turning darker, and all Kyungsoo can see on the reflection on the surface of the water is rain clouds. Flashes of lightning. Hints of thunder in the backrgound that make him shiver all over. The fire-type trainer – Chanyeol, he reminds himself. Call that evil person by his real name to freak him out – hovers for a second, flying even closer to them in his own legendary Pokemon. "Is that a Moltres? Jesus–" he hears Baekhyun say, but he doesn't get to say 'yes', much less nod in agreement, because soon Moltres is swooping low in Keldeo's direction

Baekhyun crouches low and wraps its arms around Keldeo. Moltres flies up again, circling their perimeter, then goes for a sharp dive with Chanyeol screaming at the top of his lungs. "Let's see you stop a legendary Pokemon in rampage!" he calls out, grinning as he finishes, then pulls Moltres closer to his body, making the Pokemon stutter in flight just a little. "Let's see you die trying to stop Moltres right now!"

"Ludicolo, Icy Wind on both Zapdos on Moltres!" Kyungsoo calls out to Baekhyun's Ludicolo, then. The Pokemon turns to look at him, stopping midway through dancing in its place, then nods in recognition. This isn't the first time he's tried to give Ludicolo orders, isn't the first time that he's used any of Baekhyun's Pokemon to try to save someone's life. They're a bit harder to control than his own Pokemon because of the vastly different battling styles, but Ludicolo's one of those who's easier to use. He watches as Ludicolo puffs its chest and releases a stream of ice shards, sending them flying in Zapdos's direction and in the Moltres charging towards it, as well. He shifts his gaze to Gardevoir for a quick second, then, and cocks his head in Baekhyun's direction. His stomach lurches again, tosses and turns like it's telling him that whatever he's thinking of pulling off, it's a bad idea. It's weird, crazy, risky. _You're going to get yourself killed!_

If he has to go down in exchange for two lives, then he's fine with it. To hell with reaching the Pokemon League and becoming the best there ever was; being a hero sounds far better than the two. Saving the world is far more enticing than catching 'em all.

Gardevoir disappears for a second and appears again with a light pop, bending its knees and wrapping its arms around both Baekhyun and Keldeo. Kyungsoo looks at Gardevoir one last time, then at Baekhyun who has just lifted his eyes and locked gazes with him. He gulps hard, shakes his hands in an effort to thaw out his fingers. Takes a deep breath, as well. Look away, says a voice at the back of his head, look away while you still can, but it's difficult. Keldeo's looking at him as if telling him, _I can't believe you actually think you can deal with these two all alone,_ and Gardevoir's closing its eyes as it tightens its hold on the two, and Baekhyun's screaming, "Don't do this again, Soo, I swear to God–"

Sorry, Kyungsoo almost tells Baekhyun, but he isn't. He'd be lying if he said he regrets getting them to safety and trying to deal with these two trainers until Gardevoir comes back for him (if it still has enough energy to return for him). So he presses his lips together, takes a deep breath for one quick second then looks back at the scene unfolding in front of him – Ludicolo attacking with Icy Wind, trying to push back both legendary birds, and Altaria fighting them off with a Hyper Voice, trying to take down the legendaries while trying to chip off the walls of the barrier around them bit by bit, as well. Growlithe trying to aim a Will-o-Wisp on the Zapdos and _finally_ nailing it, straight to the chest, then attacking with a Heat Wave, consuming the Zapdos in a thick cloak of red.

"Kyungsoo–"

"I'll look for you!" he screams at the top of this lungs, still not looking over his shoulder. He waits for the buzzing sound around him to lift, waits for Gardevoir to let out one last cry, waits for the blinding brightness behind him to dissipate. Waits for the display of his Gear to light up, Professor Kwon's name flashing on the screen in big and bold characters. And that's when he breathes out again, switching out Growlithe for his Excadrill and telling his Pokemon to use Rock Slide on both legendary birds.

Moltres manages to dodge, then flies up fast before shifting to flying _around_ the island. Kyungsoo blinks once, twice, thrice, a few more times in an effort to keep track of exactly where Moltres is, but to no avail – it's flying too fast and Chanyeol's screams are now muffled in the wind, choked by speed and drowned by the sound of thunder in the distance. "You're no fun,” Jongdae calls out, voice lilting just before he frowns, then he's recalling his Zapdos to its Pokeball – one different from the normal capsules Kyungsoo sees in the market, red all over instead of usual combination of white and red. There are black tapes on the sides, bracketing the edges of both halves, and the button at the middle is a slightly deeper shade of red. And it's shining with this peculiar kind of glimmer, the type you see alternate-colored, 'shiny' Pokemon give out when they emerge from a Pokeball. The Pokeball shakes in Jongdae's hand and he pushes it closer to his chest, trying to hold in the power, but the shake in his voice gives him away. That's what you get for trying to capture a Pokemon you're not supposed to tame, Kyungsoo wants to say. _That's what you get for being an asshole of a trainer–_ "We're supposed to be fighting over Keldeo. You're not supposed to just... kidnap it or something and take it away. That's not fair."

Kyungsoo snorts. He gestures at his Excadrill, holding his hand up in the air as if saying, don't attack yet. Wait for my signal. We need to find the perfect time to strike. "And you'd know what being fair means?" he asks after a while, laughing. "You, of all people, would know what playing fair and square means when you do nothing but run around, _stealing_ people's Pokemon and sometimes even hurting trainers?"

"Hey, we never hurt trainers,” Jongdae counters. He frowns. His eyes are still smiling, though, crinkled at the corners. Kyungsoo just wants to punch that look off of the guy's face. It's _sickening._ "We just steal Pokemon. Sort of like how other trainers pick up forgotten items on the floor. That counts as stealing, right?"

Kyungsoo grins his teeth. "There's no sense talking to you, really."

"And yet you're still here, fighting us off,” Jongdae answers. He gives his lips a long, drawn out lick, then finishes, "You're still here and you're wishing that we can give you answers to whatever the hell you're thinking in that cute little trainer mind of yours."

Kyungsoo sucks in a violent breath. He's here to stall time for Baekhyun and his Pokemon, to make sure that these two trainers and their Pokemon will be weak enough to even attempt to battle with other trainers they might find strong enough to steal their Pokemon. He's here to protect others _from these people,_ not to get answers. Because what else is there to question? Plain and simple, what Team Rocket is doing is theft. They've been hurting legendary Pokemon and causing imbalance in the world by capturing these legendaries that are only supposed to be _tamed,_ not trained. There is no need to know the 'why' behind it all when the 'what' already speaks volumes of the evils that the result of the poaching can bring.

And yet there's this tiny, tiny voice at the back of his mind asking, saying, is wiping out human race the only way to right the wrongs that happened during the war? Isn't there a better way to do it without harming people? _Is this the only way?_ Kyungsoo shuns the thought away, shushes the voice and brushes it off with a wave of the hand before he can even drown in his own thoughts. It's a dark, dark place in there; he wouldn't want to get lost, not this time.

"You talk too much," Kyungsoo says in return, voice cracking somewhere along the way. His throat feels too dry and tight and every part of his body burns. And he can feel a stronger ache in his knees and ankles now. Cooperate, goddamit, he tells his body, tells every fiber of his being to please, please, please stop working against him for once. _Cooperate, please._ So he unfurls his fingers, splays them on his sides, takes a deep breath. Tries to focus on how Drilbur – now an Excadrill – is sharpening its claws as it fixes its gaze on him as if asking, _what's next? What do you want me to do? How can I help you save the world?_ "And I hate people who talk too much. Rock Slide on the Moltres, Excadrill! Give it all you've got!"

Jongdae leans back a little and cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo. He doesn't flinch, though, doesn't even back down even when the rocks begin to fall from above on his Pokemon, stopping Moltres mid-flight and almost knocking Moltres down to the ground. He dodges one, two, three boulders, then takes a Pokeball from his arm band again. He runs his thumb along the surface before spinning the capsule on one finger. "I was trying to go easy on you, but it looks like you don't like playing around. Let's up the ante, then." The Jongdae cracks his knuckles, clutches the Pokeball tight in his right hand for a quick second before chucking it in the air. "Raikou, let's go!"

The first thing that Kyungsoo thinks of at the back of his mind is _of course_ he'd use another legendary Pokemon. If the electric-type trainer wants to secure a win then the fastest, easiest way to do so is by using another legendary Pokemon who's five times more powerful than your regular fully-evolved critters. His second, _how the hell_ did he even summon Raikou when legends have said that Raikou's almost impossible to see because it runs too quickly across grasslands? Patience, luck? Brute force? Not important anymore, he reminds himself. Two legendary Pokemon against his Excadrill and Baekhyun's Ludicolo and Altaria. Three Pokemon, two of which aren't his, trying so desperately to protect themselves and him, as well, from the evils of these two trainers. If the Swords want to repay him for all the help he’s given them then this would be the perfect time to do so, but there's no way for the Swords to get to this island without seeking help from someone else to cross the sea. And he can't even recall Ludicolo to its Pokeball to protect it from Raikou's electric attacks because _Baekhyun didn't leave the capsule behind–_

Excadrill reels him back to reality with a kick in the calf, its entire body still turned to where Moltres is and the barrage of rocks still falling from the skies, hitting Moltres in the wings, its beak, the sides of its face, straight to its back. Moltres falls to the ground soon after, only narrowly missing Raikou running in Kyungsoo's direction, but Chanyeol is quick to summon Moltres back to its capsule to send out Entei. "Great," Kyungsoo grumbles rolling his eyes. Why not have two legendary dogs from foreign lands he's never studied before go up against him _simultaneously?_ So he turns to Altaria, saying, "Use Hyper Voice on both of them." To Ludicolo, he says, "Focus on Entei. But if you can attack Raikou as well, then _great._ That will definitely help out Excadrill."

Both Pokemon nod at him. Beside him, he hears Excadrill sharpening its claws again, drawing them together to form two drills on its hands. "Not yet," he whispers, shaking his head, and holds his hands out on either side of him as he tells both Pokemon slow down. "Wait for my signal–"

Raikou leaps into the air, hopping from one rain cloud to another as it soars even higher into the sky. Entei hasn't stopped running; if anything, it's picking up pace, going faster as it cloaks itself in a bright blue light. _Blue flames,_ Kyungsoo whispers to himself, lets himself be blinded by the burst of flames. There's only type of attack ever recorded in the history of the world that involves a Pokemon being clothed in bright blue light.

And Excadrill's part steel now. It can still fight back with its ground and rock-type attacks to keep Entei from doing too much damage to them, but at the end of the day steel-type Pokemon are still weak to fire-type attacks. And one attack from Entei is sure to put a huge dent on Excadrill's health, one he can't track because there are no score boards around, no official League health monitors, the type he sees in gyms, to tell him that Excadrill is close to fainting, _any moment now, any moment–_

"Do it, Entei! Sacred Fire on all of 'em! Let them _burn!_ " Chanyeol calls out, a wicked grin stretching across his lips as he points his finger in Kyungsoo's direction. Entei lets out a loud cry, then, charging even faster and then leaping into the air, hovering all four of them and opening its mouth even before Kyungsoo can think of calling out another attack to defend themselves with.

"Fuck," he mutters under his breath, curling his fingers into a tight, tight fist in his sides. If he orders Excadrill to attack from below then Entei will just _crush it._ Or damage it heavily; still, there's a huge chance that Excadrill might faint to a single attack. And he needs Excadrill to dish out big damage right now. But then if Entei _does_ focus all of its energy into trying to defeat Excadrill then Ludicolo will be free to have that Entei take a Scald or maybe a Hydro Pump to the face. Maybe a hit or two? He isn't sure. He's never faced an Entei in battle before. There's just no way to gauge Entei's defensive capabilities in just one hit. He huffs and lets out a long exhale, then, breathing in deep once more before blowing at his bangs. Over Entei's looming figure, Chanyeol's smile hasn't waned. And he can see the Jongdae reaching for something in his pocket. A potion of sorts, maybe an antidote? He can't tell. It has become even more difficult to see clearly through the flames rippling his vision, with Entei inching even closer to them, turning the cool autumn winds into the hot summer breeze.

_What the hell. Whatever,_ he says at the back of his mind. If he has to go down then he'll go down trying to win this fight. There's no other way to hit rockbottom. "Excadrill, dig a hole in the ground and then use Earthquake!" he says after a while, then shifts his gaze to where Ludicolo and Altaria are. From a corner of his eye, he can see Entei closing in on them. The electric-type trainer's healing up his Zapdos, even taking care of the burn in a single solution. That's no ordinary potion, he thinks – that’s one of the medicines that he’s heard the nurses in the Centers talking about. That’s one of the medicines that his brother has developed. And what Jongdae is doing is actually a sign of humanity, of respect for his Pokemon. Just a flash of concern, yes, but an ounce of goodness, nonetheless. He shakes that thought off, though, instead focusing on the battle unfolding in front of him. "Altaria, take us off the ground. Ludicolo, you hang on tight and just keep pushing Entei to the ground with Scald–"

Ludicolo risks a glance at him, leaning back a little as if questioning him, maybe even asking for its real trainer, but, "No time to waste. Come on, Altaria. Ludicolo, _hop on now._ "

Excadrill burrows a hole deep in the ground, drilling a path for itself in an attempt to escape Entei's attack. Well _fuck,_ we could've escaped that way and then swum out into the open waters, Kyungsoo grumbles to himself now, clicking his tongue, but it's no time to be reflecting on regrets. He has to stay calm, focused. He has to keep three Pokemon focused on the task at hand, as well. "Okay, Ludicolo, I want you to use Hydro Pump on that Entei, okay? Try to pin it to the ground," he begins, running a hand along Ludicolo's back and tightening the belt around it. Must have been from Baekhyun. "And you, Altaria, I need you to use Hyper Voice in that Raikou. Focus, okay? Just... put all of your power in one attack. Don't worry about Entei, your teammate will take care of that," he whispers to the two. Ludicolo is still looking at him, though, head tilted to the side just a little, like it can't decide yet if it should just blindly obey or test Kyungsoo first. If it should gang up on Kyungsoo with Altaria and leave Kyungsoo in the island, then find its own trainer miles away from this sickening place. And really, if the two Pokemon decide to do exactly that then Kyungsoo has no way of fighting back. His Excadrill's taking a pretty nasty beating with the way Entei's aiming that powerful fire-type attack – Sacred Fire, that's what Kyungsoo recalls Chanyeol calling it – into the same hole it has dug for itself. "Trust me. I will _never_ put you in harm's way– Okay, Excadrill, use Earthquake now!"

He holds his breath as he watches the ground shake, even more powerful now that Excadrill is deep underground. Entei falls down on one knee at first, trying to push itself back on all four of its feet, but to no avail – it crashes to the ground on its knees, on its forelegs. "Ludicolo, do it," he tells the Pokemon, then, but Ludicolo doesn't budge. Doesn't even blink when he turns to the Pokemon to ask, "Ludicolo, did you _hear_ me?"

Two beats, then he hears Entei let out a loud roar from below. Exacadrill hasn't emerged from the ground yet, still keeping at attacking with Earthquake, but it's only a matter of time until Raikou attempts to help out Entei. A few seconds, to be exact – Raikou's headed back down now, about five steps away from reaching Entei's location. Altaria hasn't even begun charging its power yet. So Kyungsoo lets out a long breath, tells both Pokemon, "Your trainer is safe. You saw Gardevoir teleporting him, right? And you know Gardevoir." He rests one hand on Ludicolo's back, hoping Ludicolo can feel the sincerity in his words, can sense the truth, can feel the steady pulse on his palm. Then he fluffs Altaria's fur a little. The dragon Pokemon lets out a faint giggle. Ludicolo is unmoved, though, steady as a rock. "Baekhyun should be in Pohang. Maybe Professor Kwon and Minseok-hyung are there. Maybe he's with the girls, as well, but _whatever–_

He gulps hard and takes a deep breath, risking a glance at the scene unfolding below just to make sure that Excadrill is still fine. His Pokemon's finally emerged from the ground, hitting Entei with its entire body tucked, taking the form of a huge drill. They've never studied this attack before. Heck, Kyungsoo's never seen this attack before, but– 

Ludicolo nudges him in his side, then gives his cheeks a light punch. If this is Ludicolo-speak for _if we find out that you killed our trainer, we will kick your sorry ass,_ then he's understood the message loud and clear. "He's safe," he promises, then, resting his hand atop Ludicolo's own. Gives the belt around Ludicolo one last tug to tighten it again, then drops his hand to his side. "And if he isn't then I give you permission to punch me. But for now, _please,_ I need your help. I'm sure Baekhyun will want the same thing from both of you."

Altaria tilts its head back, bumping the top of its head against Ludicolo's own. Ludicolo groans for a moment, glaring at the dragon-type Pokemon, but soon it's holding both of its hands up in front of its body. Kyungsoo exhales, long and loud, then shifts his attention to Excadrill on the ground. Entei's managed to land another attack on Excadrill and has managed to render Excadrill immobile. _But what kind of attack is that?_ "Get up!" he calls out to Excadrill, then gives Altaria a few taps on the side to coax it to fly closer to the ground. "Come on, Excadrill, just a little more! Rock Slide on that Entei!"

It takes a few more seconds for Excadrill to get back on its feet, body still shaking from the force of Entei's attack. It's body is donned with scars and one of its hands is burning the brightest shade of red. Sacred Fire must have connected with Excadrill, and if Excadrill is slowing down in its movements is any sign of its condition then he's say his Pokemon's been burned. It will take longer to take the Entei down, but at least Ludicolo's firing a powerful Hydro Pump in Entei's direction now and– _That's it!_ "Excadrill build a wall of rocks around Entei, box it in!" he says, then looks up at Ludicolo. "Keep up the Hydro Pump! Altaria, attack the Raikou _now!_ "

Altaria releases a shrill scream, spreading out its wings as it aims an attack at the Raikou just a few feet away from Entei. The first wave of attack knocks down some of the rocks, even more as Raikou draws closer to where Entei is and tries to blast the rocks with an electric-type attack, but soon Altaria's able to further narrow down the beam of energy it has aimed at Raikou to just its chest. Kyungsoo watches as Raikou skids across the floor, stopping only when it crashes into Entei. Excadrill's steady on its feet now, but the burn is slowly hacking at its health. Ludicolo's power is dwindling as well. Altaria's swooping down to release another wave of shrill cries, and that's when Raikou let out a loud growl, making thunder roar in the skies just above them.

_Now,_ a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. _Do it, now._ It sounds a lot like him, like the ten-year-old Do Kyungsoo who's not afraid of anything, the one who strikes fear upon people by telling them that Ralts will creep into their nasty dreams and eat them all up if their playmates ever bully Sunyoung again. The same person who'd tried to scare off that guy picking on Baekhyun for being small and lanky and _weak_ – "Well we might be tiny but our brains our bigger than yours!" he'd said then, to which Baekhyun'd asked, "Really?" He pinched Baekhyun in his side after that. Baekhyun erupted into a lovely peal of laughter.

It sounds like a person he can become again if he just tried hard enough.

"Excadrill, use Earthquake!" he cries out, then, screaming at the top of his lungs as he cheers his Pokemon on. "Give it all you've got!" The ground beneath him shakes, making him fall to his knees and press his palms to the surface. And maybe it was a wrong decision to ask Excadrill to use Earthquake instead of just going for Rock Slide and not getting harming the Pokemon on _Kyungsoo's_ side of the team and even himself, but that doesn't matter anymore – Entei and Raikou are both wailing in pain as the rocks Excadrill had summoned earlier pile up on them, the force of the Earthquake attack making the fall rougher, harder, and hitting both Pokemon for super effective damage.

What are you going to do now, he wants to ask, wants to taunt Jongdee, that electric-type asshole, wants to shove that question in Chanyeol's face and look down at them as he does so. He's just taken down four legendary Pokemon that the two captured _against the Pokemon's will,_ defeated them using several of his Pokemon, some not even fully evolved yet, and also Pokemon owned by another trainer, a friend. And maybe to some it isn't such a big deal because he's got powerful Pokemon on his side, but these Pokemon who have helped him are _nothing_ compared to these gods who can control thunder and lightning, Pokemon who can summon raging fires and can emerge from lava unscathed. They are ants to the gods that Zapdos, Moltres, Entei, and Raikou are. They're but puny little Pokemon compared to these greats in Team Rocket's possession.

And yet – Kyungsoo muses as he watches the smoke around them thin, as he sees two beams of light emerge from the other side and pick up the fallen Pokemon on the ground – he's brought them down with the help of his Pokemon and Baekhyun's. And he's scared off Team Rocket again, pushed them to a place so far away from this island as Jongdae calls out, "One day, kid, _one day,_ you'll regret even trying to go up against us!" He tries to push himself up on his feet, albeit his knees shaking madly, and walks over to where Excadrill is. "And I promise you, little one, you will _never_ get to see another day again once that happens. You hear that?"

"Shut up. You're too loud," he groans, rolling his eyes. He looks over to where Altaria is and says, "Moonblast on those two trainers, now!"

Altaria begins to lift its hands in the air, gathering its power in a ball of light, but soon the Rocket trainers are summoning both Moltres and Raikou again. Zapdos bursts from its Pokeball looking healthy and ready to battle again, but Moltres still hasn't recovered from injuries. Kyungsoo can see the scars on Moltres's wings, the cuts along the sides of its body, the blood dripping from near it's ankles. He winces at the sight, takes a deep breath when he feels his stomach turn and his toes curl in. It shouldn't matter anymore, though, because the next thing Kyungsoo hears Chanyeol saying is, "'Til next, annoying one–" And the next thing he sees is Jongdae waving at him, then reaching out in Chanyeol's direction and pulling Chanyeol over to where he is. Chanyeol recalls Moltres to its capsule and then they're back in the skies, Zapdos lifting off the ground in a blink of an eye and making its ascent the very next second.

Beside him, Altaria lets out a loud cry as if coaxing the two to return, telling them, _come back, you two– I'm still not done with you–_ but too late. Soon, bolts of lightning strike from up above, caging in on them and around the island and keeping Altaria from even planning to assault the retreating legendary Pokemon with an attack.

Soon, Kyungsoo feels his knees weaken, feels his knees brush against the rough, still shaky ground beneath them in a loud thud.

And soon he feels his back hitting the ground, rocks digging into his skin and carving a space for themselves there, a reminder of this battle and what he could have done better to save the entire world.

And the world goes blissfully white.


	7. weather wars: the fight for peace in busan-si

"Alright, this should do the trick," comes a foreign voice from beside him, low and deep. It makes him shiver a little. Some clinking of something metal, and then, "Hang on, is he– Did he just wake up?"

Kyungsoo blinks a few times and looks around him. He can vaguely make out Sunyoung and Soojung near the door with Professor Kwon, discussing something about whatever is written on that sheet of paper or whatever white thing Professor Kwon is showing the girls. Another blink, then he sees Minseok a few feet away, pulling down his glasses and craning his neck as he gets up on his feet. His lips are poised in a small ‘o’, eyebrows lifted in… surprise? Maybe. Possibly. Closer, and he sees a man with shoulder-length hair holding something that looks like... a bowl? With a thick thing that looks a lot like a club? His vision is so shitty in the morning, even more so with a headache making the pulse in his temples throb all the more _and_ without his glasses on. So he gives up on the visual and sinks his head back in the pillow, shutting his eyes. And then he starts hearing voices, more voices, some familiar and others not. A soft chuckle from Soojung, a bright sound of relief from Sunyoung. Clapping from wherever, maybe from Professor Kwon, and then the same low voice saying, "Ah, great. It'll be easier to feel him this medicine, then." He tries to push himself up at that, propping himself against his arms, then furrows his eyebrows. Part of him wants to say, who the hell are you even? What are you going to feed me? _You're one of those Rockets, aren't you?_ But the man is looking at him with the softest gaze and an equally soft smile. And Minseok's addressing the man with a nod.

"I'll take care of that," comes a warm voice, familiar enough that Kyungsoo finds himself craning his neck towards the source, sort of leaning into it. His stomach turns, lurches. It’s a good lurch, though, the same type of sensation that always makes him smile even just a little, tickles his throat just enough to make him laugh, bright and wild. He pushes himself up again, then, and rests against his still shaking arms. Stills for a moment when he feels a warm palm snake up his arm, ending its journey north with a light squeeze. "You don't want to... get punched in the face for feeding him awful medicine. Nooope."

"And you do?" Soojung asks, walking closer. She snorts. “C’mon, Baekhyun, even ant bites make you cry."

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Shut up, Jung,” he groans, looking to his side to scowl at Soojung. Half of his mouth’s twisted the other way, though, like he’s hiding the silly smile from Soojung. Like he’s playing one of his games again. "Nobody asked for _your opinion._ "

Soojung parts her lips, shoulders lifting as she takes a deep breath. For a moment, Kyungsoo wonders if she’ll say, 'and nobody said that _you’re_ an expert at handling Kyungsoo,' but she doesn’t. Instead, she shuts her lips the very next second and leans back against the wall, narrowing her eyes at Baekhyun in response.

And then Baekhyun’s turning to look at him, _straight at him,_ eyes glimmering with the same glint of mischief that they’ve always had with the way the corners of his eyes crinkle as he smiles. Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. Breathes it all out, then in again when the stranger hovers just behind Baekhyun, when Sunyoung walks closer, stopping just a few feet shy of Kyungsoo’s bed. When Professor Kwon cranes her neck and says, voice crisp and clear above the collective low humming. When Baekhyun hovers for a moment, whispering, “You’re never doing a solo mission again. _Ever._ I’m telling your brother about this–“ When Baekhyun takes the bowl from the stranger’s hands and inches even closer to ask, “So will you _really_ drink this up or will I pretend that you did and call you a good boy?"

 _Call you a good boy–_ Who even does that these days? It’s silly, hilarious. It’s so Baekhyun. And Kyungsoo won’t even deny the fact that the peculiar curl on the corners of Baekhyun’s lips makes his insides turn, makes his chest tighten and his throat go dry in a good way that Baekhyun can only ever spark in him.

"Hey, I asked you a question," Baekhyun reminds him, then wiggles his eyebrows. He drops his gaze from Kyungsoo's eyes down to the gentle slope of his nose, then further south to the swell of Kyungsoo's top lip. Part of Kyungsoo feels too exposed, too self-conscious. His breath probably stinks and he can feel the drool on the corners of his mouth keep him from parting his lips too much. And _it's not as if Baekhyun's asking for a kiss,_ really, so he nods. Holds up two of his fingers in a v-sign that he hopes Baekhyun will understand as, I'm going for the second option. Thanks. You're the best.

"Hmm– _nope,_ you're going to drink this," Baekhyun says, anyway, then reaches over to run the tips of his fingers on the underside of Kyungsoo's jaw. Kyungsoo _stills_ just as he breathes out, lips hanging parted, and that's what Baekhyun capitalizes on – the moment of indecision, a glimpse of surrender. That exact moment where Kyungsoo opens his mouth, parts his lips in retaliation but finds himself wondering why he'd even thought that Baekhyun was ever going to let a battle, big or small, not swing in his favor. "Okay, kid, drink up– Alright, that's– _Good boy!_ "

Kyungsoo only narrows his eyes at Baekhyun in response but keeps gulping down the liquid, anyway. The first contact of the liquid feels like fire coursing down his throat, scoring a scorching line along the walls. He gasps, chokes, even coughs out. Widens his eyes at Baekhyun as if to say, what the _hell_ is this? "Busan's special medicine. Made by the leader, himself," Baekhyun answers, bright and chirpy, but the expression on his face wanes as soon as Kyungsoo begins to wheeze and pounds on his chest with a fist. "Wow, what the hell's in this– You smell like... burnt rubber or something."

"Doesn't–" Kyungsoo coughs again, harder this time as some particle or fiber or _something that doesn't feel like soup or a serum_ gets caught on his throat. Sunyoung's quick to offer a glass of water. Baekhyun rubs a hand on his back in apology. "Actually... tastes _okay_ but it feels like–"

"The coarser the texture of the medicine is, the more effective it should be. _And_ given that you almost got… buried in an explosion," comes the stranger's voice, pausing for a bit to chuckle, "I think the medicine's just fine. Could be a bit coarser. It'll help clean your system, get oxygen running through your veins even faster." Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows a little, then gives the man a once-over. He's wearing glasses that are threatening to fall off the bridge of his nose, and he's sporting some facial hair close to his chin. The sharp angles of his cheeks make him look a bit older, maybe a bit more worn out than he should be, but his eyes tell Kyungsoo that this man can't be in his forties. Late thirties, maybe, but he can't be much older than Minseok. But then there's at least fifty or sixty coarse things at the back of his throat that's making it impossible for him to breathe easily and for his brain to function at its optimum. So maybe this guy _is_ old, but the smile on his lips lifts the age on his features a bit. "That was a nasty encounter you had into back in Ulleung-do. I'd say it's a miracle you're actually awake right now and breathing much better than before."

Kyungsoo blinks a few times and shifts his gaze to Baekhyun, tilting his head a little. Baekhyun lifts his eyebrows in recognition, curling up the corners of his mouth, but Kyungsoo can see the strain in his features, the dark circles under his eyes, the way his cheeks shake. Can feel the soft sigh that escapes Baekhyun’s lips soon after. "How long have I been out?" he asks, then, throat feeling much warmer than before, and Baekhyun's first response is light laughter, a shake of the head, a sharp intake of breath.

"Six hours, give or take," Baekhyun answers after a while. Kyungsoo darts his gaze to the wall clock to his right, then, squints hard in an effort to see the time better. And Baekhyun takes his cue from that, reaches across Kyungsoo for something and guides the cool metal up the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose in a swift yet gentle motion. Kyungsoo shivers at the contact, at the burn of the slide of the pads of his glasses against his skin. Every part of him still feels so sore, so weak. Even breathing is a chore, moreso looking at Baekhyun from this distance – nine, ten long inches between them, Baekhyun's hand still warm on his cheek. "And they're all here because they have nowhere else to be."

"We're bored," Sunyoung offers over Baekhyun's shoulder, waving a hand in Kyungsoo's direction. Kyungsoo snorts in response. "And Baekhyun's exaggerating – you've only been out for three hours. Felt like forever, though. You sorta weren't breathing for... at least thirty minutes. _Only sort of._ Else that guy over there would’ve been freaking out the whole time."

He leans back a little, furrows his eyebrows, tilts his head. The last time he heard about lapses in time was at the height of the time and space shift. Controlling someone's body clock, though, and keeping someone from breathing for thirty minutes is an entirely different thing altogether. How did it happen, he's tempted to ask, but with the way Professor Kwon has her mouth twisted just a little and her eyebrows knit in the a tiny knot, he's pretty sure he won't be getting some answers anytime soon. Maybe his body's just weird. He's been proven to be 'different from the rest', after all, with his ability to draw legendary Pokemon to himself. Maybe this is magic at work. Or maybe Team Rocket's doing something underground again and trying to control time and space.

"Where–" He coughs again, just a bit softer this time but only because his throat feels like its been clawed at at least a hundred times already. Baekhyun runs his hand up and down his back again, then, and places the bowl of medicine on the bedside table to rest his other hand on his shoulder. Kyungsoo feels the warmth wrap around his throat a bit, ease the itchiness and the tension there so he can speak better, more clearly. "Where did Team Rocket go, though? Were you able to track them?" he asks when he feels his throat again. "They have Entei and Raikou on their side now, and they're using these leashes of sorts–"

"Not a leash, but a chain," Professor Kwon corrects. She wades through the crowd, then reaches out to ruffle Kyungsoo's hair a bit. He scowls at that – tries to scowl, at least, but Professor Kwon's touch is soft, too gentle. It feels a bit like home. So instead he breathes out, faint yet long, but doesn't lean into her touch just yet. "The Red Chain. A portion of it, I mean," she adds. "Not sure if you still remember, but Minseok talked about it briefly before. It's made of crystals drawn from the Lake Guardians _and_ made by them, as well. The Guardians first used it to... sort of maintain a balance between space and time and to 'seal' that balance. Keep it in place because it took them decades to find that nice balance between the two.

"But then during the war, the seal broke. Or someone _forcibly_ broke it. Think... someone grabbing a necklace from another person and the crystals falling off – that's what happened. And these crystals were discovered to have been used to control both Pokemon and humans in the succeeding years. It frightened the Pokemon, it really did, because they felt the effects of the seal being broken faster than we did. So all the earthquakes, the landslides, the terrible storms–"

–the tidal wave that swept across Sinyuk-ri and wiped it off the map of Korea, the waters that chased them to distant shores long after the tidal wave had died down– Kyungsoo takes a deep breath and lets it all out in a huff, shutting his eyes as he does so. He can still feel the spray of the water stinging his skin, can still hear the waves roaring behind him, chasing everyone away from the island. And he can still feel his body swaying from side to side, carried away by the force of the waves, etching memories of the disaster on every inch of his skin. Months after and yet it still feels so fresh at the back of his mind, like every day of his life since he's been swept off the shores of Sinyuki-ri has been washed away by the waves, bringing him back to square one.

"–all of those–" Professor Kwon stops, takes a sharp, deep breath, then exhales. If Kyungsoo squints hard enough then maybe he'll see the hair along her arms and her nape stand. But his temples are still throbbing and every inch of him still aches. "All those things that happened in the past? Those were warnings. Signals. Pokemon trying to tell us that _hey,_ this world we're living in? It's going to perish soon. Two years after the war, I swear to God I thought everything was going to be alright already, but the disasters started sprouting and suddenly everything felt like a second war."

"A reset, that's what some have been calling it," says the stranger – the city's _leader,_ Kyungsoo has to keep that in mind. He thins his lips into a straight line before licking them apart, sucking a deep breath as he does so. "Especially with all the time and space shifts that have been happening these past few days. A portal appearing in the middle of nowhere and sucking people in? The same thing happened in Cheonan. Earthquakes caused by a splice in space? Happened somewhere in Gangwon, as well. Chuncheon, I believe–" He shifts his gaze to Minseok, who only responds with a light scoff, a jerk of the shoulders. "It's everywhere now, and try as we may we can't hide these... manifestations of the second war anymore. The media's on it. The skeptics are becoming believers now. Heck, even those who didn't give a shit about natural disasters in the past are showing interest in what's happening these days! And now everyone's being reminded of that time when Giratina left its own world to cleanse the world as we know it."

"The opening of the portal to the Distortion World," Kyungsoo whispers now, then shifts his gaze to where Professor Kwon is. "That didn't even happen in the previous war, right?"

Baekhyun snorts. "Yeah, but it was Arceus that came down from the heavens–"

"To give everyone a second chance, not to wipe the world clean. Arceus is no shadow god Pokemon," Kyungsoo counters, narrowing his eyes at Baekhyun. If he had enough energy to retaliate with more than just words then he'd be twisting his fist in Baekhyun's arm, curling the fingers in his free hand in Baekhyun's shirt. Tugging him closer to tease more than to tase then let him go the very next second. But this _is_ the second war and they have no time to be fooling around, so instead he goes with a huff, a roll of the eyes, a lick of his lips. Then jams his toe into Baekhyun's side just strong enough to make Baekhyun's body jerk in response. "Though Arceus _can_ do that, but the only time it has created portals was to transport humans between two timelines was–"

"The time when Giratina threatened to open the portal to the Distortion World for the very first time. Fifty, sixty years ago?" Minseok offers now, inching closer to where the group has huddled. It feels a bit weird to be at the center of a discussion _on a hospital bed,_ Kyungsoo muses, but then they're lucky to be having a discussion at all. If Team Rocket had already successfully released Giratina from where it was banished by Arceus half a century ago then they won't even be getting the chance to talk at all. And if Giratina never escaped from the twisted Distortion World where nothing is exactly what it seems then they won't know the gravity of the situation, how much it will affect not only the entire country but also the entire world. How Giratina has the ability to swallow the entire world in its own dimension so that Dialga, the god of time, and Palkia, the god of space, can create a new world out of nothingness. "When humans fuck up, Giratina is the one who punishes them and sucks them into its own world. Some call it... a purgatory of sorts. Limbo, if that's what you want to call it."

Soojung laughs a little, shaking her head. The corners of her lips are tugged up into the smallest, smallest smile, uncertain in the way her cheeks shake a little. "And when Pokemon fuck up, it's Arceus who comes down from the heavens. Pretty accurate," she adds. "So, what's the plan now? How do we stop things from happening?"

Professor Kwon shifts her gaze, turning to look in Soojung's direction. "Are you saying that _we_ should go up against these giants?" she asks, laughter lodged between the syllables of her speech. Her mouth hangs open in a weird twist, sort of like she's still caught between disbelief and disappointment, torn between saying okay, why the hell not, let's try to bring these legendary Pokemon down, instead of telling Soojung off, calling her crazy. Right now, it's leaning towards the latter. "Jung Soojung, if you think that you're good enough to go against these very Pokemon that created space and time, that created _the world,_ then you, my dear, are _out of your mind._ "

"I'm not saying that we should _go against them;_ I'm saying that we should at least try to communicate–"

"Which means we'll have to summon them," Kyungsoo says in the loudest voice he can muster without feeling his throat rebel against him. He can taste blood and metal in his mouth, can feel Baekhyun sliding his hand down to the small of his back before pulling away. Baekhyun doesn't inch away from the bed, though, just keeps his fingers there, a centimeter away from Kyungsoo's own, close enough that if Kyungsoo wants a tinge of warmth then all he has to do is to stretch his arm a little, reach for the pads of Baekhyun's fingers. Slot those slender digits between his own until the rest of the team catches on and starts throwing them random looks. And then they can pull away at the very next second, reach deep in their pockets for the capsules of their favorite Pokemon and battle alongside each other because that's what they do best – fighting evil with each other's help, no matter how great or how little. "We can't risk that. We have to stop Team Rocket from summoning the space and time gods before they can even do more damage to the world."

"You mean _we_ have to stop them from doing that, right?" Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows at him, then pinches him in his side. "You're not going anywhere with those broken bones. Prof's gonna kill you if you even attempt to get out of your bed, I swear."

"I will," Professor Kwon affirms. She presses her palm down on Kyungsoo's head, not ruffling his hair this time but just keeping him in place. Part of Kyungsoo wishes she'd just do that again, keep fluffing his hair and forget about the issue at hand because he _can_ help out even in this condition. He knows his Pokemon and Baekhyun's, combined, can fight off the two Rocket executives they've faced in the past. "I wish I was kidding but I can't let you go out there and get yourself killed."

Kyungsoo laughs. "So you'll kill me with your own hands?"

"Don't challenge me, little Do," she counters, then adds more weight to her hand so she can press the heel of her palm on the crown of Kyungsoo's head. "You know what I'm capable of."

Granting ordinary people the license to become Pokemon trainers, enabling them to either be the next warriors who'll swear to protect the country against the evils of whatever lies ahead or to be _that very evil_ that needs to be taken down. Keeping trainers safe by tapping the right resources and connections at the right time. And being one, two steps ahead of everyone else when it comes to planning so that if anything bad happens, the trainers don't have to blame themselves; she'll take the brunt of the hate and the despair. She's capable of all of those, Kyungsoo knows that, but he's also certain that Professor Kwon will only push back the infiltration date and still let Kyungsoo do the mission, anyway.

He plays along, nonetheless, mutters, "Fine, fine," until he feels the pressure of Professor Kwon's hand on his head lift. And then there it is, the light fluff of the hair, the small smile on Professor Kwon's lips that says 'good boy' instead of, "I'm watching you, Kyungsoo. I'm watching every move you make."

"Kinda creepy, Kwon," the leader comments, shaking his head. Professor Kwon counters with a jab to the arm, but soon surrenders with light laughter and a roll of the eyes. Kyungsoo shifts his gaze between the two, then, trying to put the puzzle pieces between them together, but all he ever ends up doing is taking in more of the man's features, committing to memory the way Professor Kwon just sort of _leans_ into him as she slaps him on the back hard enough to make him wheeze. The way the man straightens himself up in a blink of an eye, then winks at Professor Kwon before saying, "Well, I can't let all of you just go off into an adventure without feeding you _and_ nailing the exact location of the entrance to the Rocket hideout first, so you’re all stuck here for the time being. I’m sure they’ve relocated. The second hideout was supposed to be just at the foot of Sobaeksan before but when we checked yesterday, there weren’t any signs of life there."

“Not even Pokemon?” Sunyoung asks.

“A bit. We encountered two or three every half hour. It felt like a dead city. The Rockets must have damaged the inside badly."

“Then it’s still there. Just not visible to the naked eye, because you can’t just–” Kyungsoo pauses, laughing a little as he shifts in his position. “You can’t just ‘undig’ tunnels and stuff. Close up exits in caves in a blink of an eye. It doesn’t work that way.” He grimaces at the sharp pain shooting up his arms, his legs, the sides of his body. Fuck deciding to take down those legendaries on his own. If he makes the same mistake another time then he might as well get himself killed. “I saw them flying north before I passed out. They could be Sokcho-bound.” He worries his bottom lip for a bit until he feels the sting of his teeth digging into his skin, tastes the bitter flavor of the weird medicine he’d just taken earlier. He groans a little. “Back to the old base, I guess."

"To retrace their steps," the leader says, nodding once, twice, thrice as he purses his lips. "Or maybe because there's just one entrance to all the bases but there are _multiple exits._ I mean, the bases should be connected via tunnels, somehow. How else will they be able to move around the country so fast without getting seen by our police?"

Uh, because the police _sort of sucks?_ Kyungsoo's tempted to say, but he doesn't. Instead, he presses his lips into a thin, thin line, then bites the inside of his cheek as a last-ditch effort to remind him of the things he probably shouldn't be telling a stranger who'd just fed him a coarse, weird-tasting liquid that's even worse than most suspensions for his cough that he's taken as a kid. That, and the man has a point – the first thing that Professor Kwon's team picked up was an image of the tunnel loops, after all. If they can somehow trace the single entrance those little tunnels stem from and all the exits to the actual camps then they'll be able to locate the actual bases in no time.

"Dialga and Palkia. Team Rocket has them in their possession, I'm _positive_ ," Professor Kwon answers, not a hitch in her breathing. Her voice is steady, sharp, calm and yet cold. The small upward curls on the corners of her lips still remain, but her cheeks are shaking yet again. Kind of like she's struggling to keep the smile there or asking herself why she's even trying to smile through all these tests. "We have to stop them. And to do that, we'll have to find the Lake Trio–"

"All taken cared of," Minseok says, raising his hand. He moves closer to where they're huddled, then, showing the team a tablet with pieces of information littered on the display. There's a pullout from a news clip on the location of the Trio, then a picture on a sighting of three of the legendary Swords. Tiny screen captures of... text messages, as well, all from Jino. Kyungsoo nods. It's good to know that he's been placing his trust in good people. "They should be back in their lakes. Jino just sent me a report and... the Rockets apparently set them free just this morning? Look at this–" He sets the tablet down on an empty space on the bed, then pulls up a video at the center. It's choppy, to say the least, but there's no mistaking the uniform of the people carrying the 'cages' that the Lake trio have been trapped in. There's a huge red R at the back of their shirt, then another R at the side of their cap. Five more seconds, then the Rockets are fleeing, some flying on their Pokemon and some riding a helicopter of sorts. Some have just disappeared in a blink of an eye. Maybe they have teleporting Pokemon just like Gardevoir. "Right now I'm guessing the Rockets can't find a use for them anymore since they've drained the Trio's power already so they've just... set them free again."

"In their lakes," Baekhyun comments, snorting. He shifts in his position then taps Kyungsoo's shoulder a little. Whether he wants Kyungsoo to come closer or to move further to the right so he can sit on the bed, Kyungsoo isn't quite sure yet, so he goes with the safest, inches away so that Baekhyun can make a comfortable space for himself. "Where they can recharge and make those crystals again for the Red Chain," he continues. He scoffs, then, shaking his head, and sneaks his hand beneath the blanket drawn up to Kyungsoo's thigh. For a moment, Kyungsoo wonders if he should shoot Baekhyun a stern look, remind Baekhyun that _hey,_ I almost broke a few bones. Don't do anything both of us will regret. But he doesn't. Instead, he just stays there, holding his breath as he waits – for Baekhyun's next words, his next set of actions. For the next big wave of air to wash over him and sneak into his lungs again. "I– I dunno if Team Rocket's a bunch of idiots or it they're actually really smart."

"Smart, if you ask me," says the leader. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose. At the back of Kyungsoo's mind, he thinks, _ah, thank god._ He looks a bit more familiar now, sort of like one of those celebrity trainers that Kyungsoo has seen on TV in the past. A trainer calling forth a Lilligant and asking it to use Giga Drain on the Wailord on the other side of the arena, a trainer praising his Pokemon for a job well-done, then summoning a Mow Rotom as his second Pokemon. A trainer brushing off weird looks because _who even uses a Mow Rotom in a competitive battle?_ Only Korea's grass-type master, Park Yoochun. It can't be anyone else. "They dump the Lake Trio there now and lead them into a false sense of security. The next time they need more of the red gems, they can just poach the Trio without difficulty. And maybe the Trio will try to fight them off but with some of the red crystals in Team Rocket's possession, it will be easier for the goons to control these legendaries. And the trio won't really have a choice in the matter – either they obey or they die."

"But then the Swords will be there to protect them, right?" Sunyoung asks.

"The Swords that have just been reunited, you mean? After Team Rocket kidnapped one of them?" The leader – Yoochun, Kyungsoo tells himself. The guy's name is Yoochun – laughs a little. "Yes. Yes _and no,_ " he continues. He pauses for a while, taking a deep breath as he inches closer to the tablet Minseok had set down on the bed earlier. Beside Kyungsoo, Baekhyun shifts, leaning closer to the device but not quite letting go of the feeble link of their hands under the blanket just yet. "I'm pretty sure they'd be great counters to whatever Team Rocket has but if they have the gods of _time and space_ on their side, then–"

"We need something of the same calibre," Baekhyun whispers, then looks up to face Yoochun with furrowed eyebrows. " _Or_ beat Team Rocket to having the Trio make another Red Chain. I mean, they _can_ make one again, right? Since the old one broke, so that sorta... nullifies whatever rule the Trio has that keeps them from making something so powerful? The tiny gems shouldn't be that powerful when they're not in... one band or something."

"They shouldn't be that powerful, but you know what those Rockets are capable of."

Destroying cities and dreams and almost crippling people, threatening to wipe out the world as we know it so that humans and Pokemon can coexist the way the organization wants the two to get along – by making humans succumb to the whims and orders of their partners, their Pokemon. By letting Pokemon rule the world when Arceus, itself, said that humans are there to guide and guard Pokemon, to keep them out of harm's way and to make sure that they're not drinking up too much power for fear of being consumed from the inside by the overwhelming strength. These are only some of the things Team Rocket has already done. The list goes on. Kyungsoo isn't sure if he wants to figure out the rest of the list yet, but he does know this – Team Rocket is a threat to national security. And they must be stopped at all costs.

"So, what do we do now?" Baekhyun asks, sinking back into the pillow he's sharing with Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo flinches at the brush of their limbs, at the heat of the contact, but soon he's leaning in, slumping against against Baekhyun’s warmth _just a little._ If Sunyoung ever calls him out on this then he can just say that he's tired, drained. Aching all over. Needed something, someone to lean on for support and Baekhyun just happened to be there at the right time. "Wait for intel on the location? Look for it, ourselves?"

"The four youngins stay here in Center," the leader declares, looking around for a bit but letting his gaze linger on Baekhyun. Then he shifts his eyes, cocking an eyebrow at Kyungsoo in accord. Kyungsoo transfers some of his weight to his side, the one pressed against Baekhyun's body. A corner of Baekhyun's lips tugs up in response. "That includes you, little Byun. No messing around, no meddling in the investigation, _no poking your nose_ into this case until we tell you to do so, understood?"

Kyungsoo recoils a bit, shoulders jerking, but something about the way the syllables roll off the man's lips that makes the entire statement sound more like a bedtime story than a threat to break their limbs if they even think of appearing at the crime scene out of the blue. So he nods – not on Baekhyun's behalf but because he's hoping to earn a pass from Professor Kwon to join the infiltration should the right time for it be sometime within the week.

"Aye, aye, captain," Baekhyun groans.

"Yoochunnie-hyung is fine," the leader says, then reaches out to ruffle Baekhyun's hair. "I just don't want your brother threatening to kill me again because I let you out of my sight. The last time it happened, I really though he was going to beat me up."

"That was _years_ ago," Baekhyun argues, trying to swat Yoochun's hand away. He only ends up hitting himself on the head, though, almost clawing at his face when Yoochun pulls his hand away. "I don't even know why you still feel guilty about that–"

–that thing that happened sometime between Baekhyun leaving Sinyuk-ri and heading to Sokcho-si to live a new life? Sometime between transitioning from living in an island to living in a city, a big place with lots of buildings and establishments, in a place where the chances of neighbors knowing each other are slim? Sometime between Baekhyun leaving Kyungsoo behind and the day they met again, ten years from when they'd last seen each other? Kyungsoo isn't sure. A fraction of him wants to probe, wants to ask about the event that might have shaped Baekhyun's life one way or another, but the way Baekhyun has his body turned away from the group, only a quarter of his chest facing everyone, tells him that Baekhyun isn't so sold on that idea.

So he keeps mum again. Tells himself, you're still recovering from a nasty attack. Maybe it's best that you shut up along with the voices in your head. Then he pulls away from the light link of their hands and curls his fingers into loose fists on his thighs, over the blankets instead of under them where he'd been sharing body heat with Baekhyun.

"You wanted to paddle to a far-off island _on your own,_ kid. You were ten. Your brother left you in _my care._ " Yoochun shakes his head. "If the same thing happened to Yoohwan, I would've flipped. Beom was pretty chill about the whole thing, to be honest. If I were him, I'd have thrown chairs at myself already."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath. "Where to?" he asks, can't help but let slip from his lips in the smallest, quietest voice he can muster. It takes Baekhyun five whole seconds to respond with his body, another five with a small 'hmm' under his breath. Five more, and then Baekhyun's tilting his head to the side as if asking for a repeat, I didn't hear it the first time. _Sorry, my hearing sucks._ "I said, where were you planning to go then, when you... paddled off."

" _In a fisherman's boat,_ even, lemme tell you that," Baekhyun murmurs, voice cracking a little as he ends. He breathes out into the open, looking around them for a bit. If he's trying to tell them off, tell them to go mind their own business, then he's doing a shoddy job at it with the way he still has the corners of his mouth tugged up into a faint smile. "I... can't really remember. Somewhere. Couldn't have been far."

"Your little island. I remember you mentioning it. You said something about it being less than a day away so you thought it was near. _Stupid,_ " Yoochun answers after a while. He reaches for the bowl from across Kyungsoo, murmuring a small apology under his breath when he almost runs into the loose part of the IV attached to Kyungsoo's right hand. Kyungsoo winces a little – at the ripping sensation at the back of his hand, at the thought of Baekhyun paddling for hours on end in a little boat just so he can reach their distant island, maybe even both. All he's certain of right now is that rubbing his warm palms on his arms is making it easier for him to thaw out, to swallow around the thick lump in his throat and breathe. "So no more silly games, kid. Not going to risk you doing something that like that again."

"Yeah, yeah, I promise," Baekhyun grumbles. There's a lilt in his voice, though, one that Kyungsoo finds the tension in his shoulders lifting to. So he replays that voice of Baekhyun's in his mind, again and again, holding onto that last syllable like he hasn't been praying for Baekhyun to keep all his promises from when he had to walk away to that moment before they infiltrated the first enemy camp. _I've stopped running, Soo. I'm not going anywhere,_ Baekhyun's said then. _I promise. And if I ever break that, feel free to break my fingers._

My goal is to keep you, not to break you, Kyungsoo'd almost said then. He swallowed those words, instead, and took a deep, shaky breath. Wrapped his fingers around Baekhyun’s wrist, then said, “Good to know. Well, what’re you waiting for? We have a mission to do. _So get your lazy ass moving–_ "

"And if you think you're off the hook now, Kyungsoo, I'm telling you as early as now – _I've got my eyes on you,_ " Professor Kwon reminds him. He laughs, shakes his head, rolls his eyes in reply. And Professor Kwon pulls away without another word like Kyungsoo's offhanded response is enough an assurance for her that he won't ever think of escaping from the Center's premises and taking on Team Rocket alone.

The crowd doesn't thin until fifteen minutes after, when Soojung excuses herself to train her Pokemon for a gym battle that she's booked with Yoochun. Baekhyun says he'll be off to catch a few more Pokemon, try to mix things up and maybe rework his roster for the gym here in Busan. Professor Kwon waves over her shoulder and drags Yoochun along with her, but not without making formal introductions between Kyungsoo and Yoochun first.

"This is Park Yoochun, Korea's grass-type master and the best Pokemon doctor the industry has ever seen," she'd said then, giving Yoochun's arm a gentle squeeze. Yoochun's response was a faint gasp, widening his eyes, and a weird sort of smile that Professor Kwon threatened to wipe off his face if he didn't 'shape up'. "Also the worst at making yummy Pokemon medicine, but trust me when I say that he's the best at what he does."

"I don't sell weed, just to make things clear," Yoochun'd added soon after. He extended his hand in Kyungsoo's direction and Kyungsoo reached out for it. His palm was warm and soft; his touch, gentle. Sort of like the kind of touch you'd trust to take care of you. Maybe that was what Professor Kwon meant by him being the best – he seemed like the type of doctor who'd promise not through his words but through the soothing touch of his palm that he'd be able to save your Pokemon's life no matter what. "And I don't sell perfume, as well. Though I did earn a living from that in the past. Got me through college."

"He means he used to sell drugs until he decided to start making them."

"My life in a sentence," Yoochun'd said in agreement, laughing a little. He pulled his hand away with an easy smile. "Kwon tells me you and Baekhyunnie are pretty tight?"

Kyungsoo'd lifted his eyebrows then, smiled. Gulped down hard the words knocking at the back of his teeth, hoping for a clumsy enunciation. "Yeah. Both of us and our brothers, as well."

"Aaand Nurse Jinri says your Pokemon are fine!" comes Sunyoung's greeting now, coupled with a bright smile. She kicks the door open, trying to swing it even wider, but in the end she uses her ass to keep the door from shutting again. Kyungsoo cranes his neck, then, trying to see better. Furrows his eyebrows when he sees the way she scrunches her face as she balances the food on the tray. There's some colorless soup, some kimchi, a few berries and another dosage of Yoochun's bitter as fuck medicine. It's been doing its job, though. He doesn't feel as sore all over anymore, and neither does he feel like his throat's about to bleed anytime and–

"Shit!" Sunyoung exclaims, pressing her back close to the wall. She shuts her eyes tight, tilts her head back, takes sharp, quick breaths in an attempt to regain control of her limbs. And then she breathes out, long and loud, a bright sound of relief rivalled only by the slow-forming smile on her lips. Kyungsoo gulps down hard, nonetheless, tries to get up and to push himself off his hospital bed to help Sunyoung with the food, but the damned IV's keeping him from moving around too much. Who even thought of inventing these things? "Nope, you're staying right there on the bed,” Sunyoung says in an instant, then, poking one eye open. Then she growls at him, lips tugging down into a frown when he snorts at her. "Don't you even think of moving around, Do Kyungsoo, or else I'll kick you in the balls–"

Kyungsoo snorts. He leans back against his pillow, anyway. "You're too nice to do that."

"Not anymore," Sunyoung argues. She sticks out her tongue, then pushes herself off the wall to balance herself on two feet again. Kyungsoo hums a little in response and moves to his side, hoping to accommodate but, even before he can budge, Sunyoung comments, "And you're really cute when you forget to act that you're not concerned about everyone, y'know?"

He snorts, rolls his eyes. Shakes his head. Moves a few inches to the right until the space to his left looks just about right for a tray filled with food and drinks and for Sunyoung to make herself comfortable in. "I'm not worried about you," he replies after a while, voice dropping to a whisper as she draws closer. "I'm just worried about the food."

"Aww. It's alright, Soo. I know how difficult it is for you to seem like you don't care," she singsongs, swaying her head from side to side as she sets a small, low desk of sorts on the now empty space on his bed. Then she arranges two bowls, two glasses of water, two little cups of tea and two bars of what seems to be sweet rice cake just beside the glasses on the tiny table, pouring in as much concentration as she used to when she was still holding tea parties with both him and Baekhyun. He laughs a little at that, at the silly yet fond memory of their childhood. Things were much easier back then. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Scout's honor."

"You're not even a scout."

"I _would have been_ if my friends weren't trying to protect me all the time. _Geez._ " She narrows her eyes at Kyungsoo and swats his hand away when he tries to snatch her share of the sticky rice cake. She ends up rubbing her thumb along the red area, anyway, starting off with just dabs of the finger before soothing over the area with a light rub. Then she leers at him when he attempts to use his other hand to reach for the same and doesn't even drop his hand to the side even if she's already snarling at him. "But yeah, I stand by what I said. I like softie Soo over serious Soo. It brings back memories," she adds after a while, voice drifting off into a hum. Part of Kyungsoo wants to ask what, why, how, but part of him just wants to listen to her soft voice. _This_ brings back more memories than he'd like.

"Like what?" he asks soon after, nonetheless. He means, our memories of ten years ago are all too sad and bitter so _why_ do you have to go and dig up again? It's a waste of time.

"Running along the beach, making sand castles, burying Baekhyun alive–" Sunyoung laughs a little and lets her face fall forward. She remains silent for a while, so dangerously still and quiet, and then she's looking up at him with the same kind of wonder that she had back when they were still nine, when their older siblings all gave them a Pokeball to catch another companion with. "The big reunion, finishing all the stew because Baekhyun's an asshole for leaving us behind and you didn't want the food to go to waste–"

I did it for you, not for him, he wants to say, but part of him knows it isn't true. He was trying to prove to himself back then that Baekhyun was an asshole, didn't have a heart, didn't even care for anyone but himself. He was trying to convince himself that all the years he's spent looking forward to the day they'll see each other again were a waste because Baekhyun _is_ Baekhyun. Because Baekhyun will always run away at the first sign of intimacy, of feelings, of affection. Because those are things that pin Baekhyun in place and keep him from leaving. And he likes being a free bird. So Kyungsoo didn't finish at least half of the jjigae Sunyoung cooked for _them_ because he felt bad seeing Sunyoung glance at the empty bowl to their right every so often. He did it for his peace of mind. He was being selfish then, a fool. And only now does it occur to him how stupid of a move it was because he almost ended up throwing up all the food he'd eaten then as he journeyed to the next city with nothing but a heavy belly and a heavier heart.

"Stop doing that," Sunyoung says this time, slapping him on the arm just lightly. His body gives a little jerk and then he's back, breathing in long and deep as he faces Soojung. "You know I hate it when you curl in on yourself and shun people away."

"Sorry," he mumbles, curt and automatic. He can taste the acid in his throat, mixing with the sharp taste of metal. That's not how rice cake is supposed to taste. "But please, don't ever call me softie Soo again."

"Right, because you really _are_ a softie. No need to be redundant." She reaches up to fluff his hair, to give it a light ruffle, but ultimately she gives it a lazy tug as if exacting revenge for a crime he didn't even do. "I'm just glad you're alive and in one piece and that you two are... getting along just fine. No more fights, no tension."

No kissing, no wishing, just light touches and slides of the limbs and lingering looks. It's a sacrifice that they have to make. Once, they rushed into things and went straight for the pucker, and instead of pulling each other together, closer, it just made them push each other away. _Because you didn't have a fucking plan then,_ a voice at the back of his mind reminds him. _You were a bunch of confused kids who didn't even know the difference between being the best of friends and being the best for your friend._ But they know better now, and they've been testing their limits, and they've been trying to help each other out in the 'not breaking our resolve' department by taking a step back from the edge of the cliff even before the ground beneath their feet begins to shake.

"We had a long talk," Kyungsoo explains after a while. He lifts the cover of the bowl and breathes in deep, taking in the sharp scent of spice. "And I should get sick more. If you keep cooking for me like this, I'll have more reasons to get myself into trouble."

Sunyoung rolls her eyes and lifts her fist, poised to land a jab on Kyungsoo's arm, but in the end she just brushes it along Kyungsoo's cheek. "Baekhyun's number one, isn't he?" she asks, then, taking a sip of the soup before popping some bean sprouts in her mouth. She keeps her eyes on Kyungsoo the whole time, during the stretch of the silence, and holds his gaze. Kyungsoo has been in a similar situation too many times before, an all-out staring game where's he's certain he'd win because he's good with holding poses, focusing on one thing. He's good with constants and things that don't change. But he's never been good at lying. So he shrugs in response, laughs a little, tears his eyes from Sunyoung even as Sunyoung shakes her head and whispers something about stubborn kids, stubborn kids in love. And he focuses on his reflection on the stew, the crazy smile threatening to pull up at the corners of his lips, and the way the look just _feels right_ on his skin.

↔

Kyungsoo steps out into the sunlight and shivers at the heat for the first time in days. Just two whole days, to be exact, but spending so much time indoors just discussing strategies with people instead of going out and putting those plans into action feels like having to take two entire bowls of the herbal medicine Yoochun has been making for him in succession, _then_ being deprived of drinking water right after. If this is how Ralts felt while trying to keep itself from evolving then Kyungsoo feels sorry for all the Pokemon who don't want to reach the next stage of their life cycle out of fear of being consumed by their power. And if this is how target practice at five in the morning feels for a baby puppy like Growlithe then... he can try to feel apologetic even if he knows it's for Growlithe's own good.

"Don't go too far–" he calls out after Growlithe, watching the puppy run as fast as it can to the next street, then wounding itself around a lamp post. He blinks at his Pokemon a few times, keeping a safe distance from it and just watching it, then laughs a little when Growlithe gets back on its feet in a rush, ears perking up like it had just picked up a familiar voice or felt the ground move.

He gulps down hard. The earth beneath them _is_ moving, just quick and tiny shakes that soon bloom into something more powerful, destructive, sending some plant pots from a condotel nearby crashing to the ground, pounded into smithereens.

"Growlithe, return!" he says, then, beaming the Pokemon back to its capsule and snapping the Pokeball in place in his belt pack. He takes a deep breath, grips the lamp post tight. Looks around him and tries to look for familiar faces just around the block. The Pokemon Center is just on the other side of the road and he should probably be heading back because it's the safest place in any city, but he wants to _be here_ to witness people handling the shock of the situation with his own eyes. He sees a few people ducking into shops, sees people locking their windows and doors and all the openings where dust and rubble might filter through. And he sees Soojung and Minseok taking quick steps to the Pokemon Center, hands covering their heads.

"Kyungsoo, get inside!" Minseok yells, cocking his head in the direction of the Center. When Kyungsoo doesn't move, he adds, "This isn't an ordinary earthquake– What are you doing?"

He shakes his head. This _is_ an ordinary earthquake, he wants to argue. He can't feel the same ripping sensation that he'd gotten back in Sobaeksan, during his most recent encounter with the Swords. And he can't feel the same crippling cold that draped on his shoulder just before the match against Pohang-si's Park Yura. There's nothing else to be deciphered here but the shaking of the ground, the movement of the plates, the slowing of his heartbeat and then the way it quickens the very next second–

He clutches his shirt tight and sucks in a deep, rattling breath. He feels for the capsules on his belt pack before running to the other side of the street, just making sure hadn't dropped a Pokeball at the onset of the quake. One last look around him and then he's slipping inside, shutting the door behind him and resting his forehead against the solid board. Behind him, he can hear many voices, some familiar and some foreign, but he'll take this over the sound of glass shattering and people screaming and panicked hitches of the breath any day. It brings back too many memories of the war, of that time when he was taught to be thankful every minute that he stayed alive. It brings back all those bad memories from less than a decade ago, the same memories that still haunt him from time to time, keeping him from sleeping well and keeping his Pokemon awake and restless in the whee hours of the morning, as well.

He looks over his shoulder, searching for familiar faces. He can see Soojung wiping dust and grime off her face with a hand towel, then Sunyoung with her hair tied in a neat ponytail and the sleeves of her shirt rolled up. She must have been cooking earlier at the start of the quake. There's Minseok in his pajamas, as well, glasses slipping from the bridge of his nose but eyes wide open. Too alive and too alert. He must have been training somewhere close by, only to be interrupted by the quake. And then there's a message coming in from somewhere, flashing on TV and tearing everyone's attention from the earthquake shaking up the entire city.

A sharp, shrill tone, and then the monitor goes completely black. Kyungsoo can still hear the static in the air, though, can still hear the faint crackles of electricity at the back of his ears, hanging somewhere between his airspace and that of the person beside him. Two more beats and then the visual comes into focus at last, revealing an image of a familiar gym leader. His hair is tied back into a ponytail, and he's wearing goggles instead of eyeglasses. He looks... different, possibly older than his laughter once made him look and sound like. His eyes are more sullen than ever. He isn't even smiling. He's just reporting with a backdrop of an excavation site or something like it right behind him and the sound of drilling rising above the noise.

Kyungsoo's first thought is, "He's not in Busan?" His second, "Where's Professor Kwon?" And then the third, at the back of his mind, where the hell is Baekhyun?

"Thank _you_ for keeping the windows open. You are my _savior,_ " comes a more familiar voice now, wrapping around his nape and making him shut his eyes. He throws his head back a little, trying to ease the tension in his throat, but to no avail – the tightness remains, along with the sickening taste of blood and metal in his mouth. It lifts only when he feels a warm hand of his shoulder, running along the expanse of his skin, mapping his shoulders from one side to another. A tiny squeeze of the arm and his body gives a tiny jerk, all the air in his system rushing back to his lungs and knocking him back to life. "Hey, I just called you my savior. Don't I at least deserve a 'hi' or something?"

Kyungsoo laughs a little. Tries to, as least, but all that ever comes out is a choked sound. He offers a smile, then, just a tiny one tugging up at the corners of his mouth like a stimulus to things he can't control. Something he can default to when all else fails. And then he breathes out, much like a whisper, "Hey." A loud gulp, and then, "You're up."

Baekhyun's eyes widen for a moment, but then Kyungsoo might just be imagining things. Baekhyun's fresh from slumber and his hair's a mess and there's still a smidgen of drool at the corners of his mouth. And his lips are swollen, too red, too inviting, that if only they weren't under attack at the moment, if the ground beneath them wasn't shaking then maybe, _maybe–_ "I know, I look like shit," Baekhyun grumbles, then moves to rest his chin on Kyungsoo's shoulder. And the next thing Kyungsoo knows, Baekhyun's wrapping his arms around Kyungsoo's waist, pulling him tighter, their bodies caught in a messy tangle of limbs. He can feel the slow, steady thumping of Baekhyun's heartbeat on his back, can feel the heat of Baekhyun's body seep into his skin. And he can feel Baekhyun's warm breath tickle his nape, his ear, every part of him that's touching Baekhyun. He exhales, long and painful, scratching the walls of his throat. "But do you seriously expect me to give a shit about how I look when world war whatever's happening already?"

I expect you to focus on the situation at hand and not on me, Kyungsoo wants to say, but then the ground's shaking again. The TV flickers this time, the reception getting cut off altogether. He catches the sound of a couple of things crashing at the back, as well – maybe the dishes in the kitchen area. They'll have to clean that up later. He'll be glad if they even get a 'later' at this rate. "At least pop a mint or something. You smell like shit."

"Well, I didn't know you liked being hugged by shit–whoa–"

The ground gives a violent shake, a roar, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows he's seeing the TV crashing to the ground. The lights go out for a quick second and then flicker open again, but it isn't as bright anymore. The machines in the Pokemon Center give a long, loud beep. It makes Baekhyun loosen his grip on Kyungsoo a little, makes Kyungsoo shiver all over and makes his knees go weak. Nurse Jinri comes rushing from the back office of the Pokemon Center, breathing out in a loud exhale before telling everyone, "Power's out in the whole city. We're running on generator energy– Please, everyone, stay close to the ground and _keep your Pokemon close!_ " But instead trainers are pulling out Pokeballs from their cases, summoning a Pachirisu, an Emolga, Plusle and Minun, Manectric, its cousin Luxray–

"Pikachu, come out!" Baekhyun says, tossing the critter's Pokeball in the air. He looks over to the other trainers, giving them a curt nod, then tells Nurse Jinri, "We'll need to keep the Center running, somehow. I mean, I bet there are hundreds of injured Pokemon _and_ trainers out there. Do you have... I dunno, spare generators that need charging?"

"Or even gadgets that you'll need to keep in touch with the base in Mokpo-si. To get in touch with Professor Kwon and her team," Kyungsoo adds, tilting his head to the side. Nurse Jinri doesn't respond, though, just kind of stares at them for a few seconds until she sucks in a deep, deep breath, air passing through the narrow gaps between her teeth. Baekhyun reaches out for her, then, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. Kyungsoo tries to mirror the gesture, slides his hand up Nurse Jinri's arm for a bit of warmth, a show of support. It feels a bit weird, but it seems to thaw her out, seems to bring her back to this moment as she exhales in quick, tiny puffs of air. "Nurse Jinri, we're here to help. So please, if there's anything that we can do to keep the Center even with all the chaos happening outside–"

"There are two more generators in the basement," she answers after a while. She sniffs, blinks a few more times, nods in thought and presses her lips together. "Joy here can show you the way. But we'll also need to protect the actual establishment from taking too much damage–"

"I'll take care of that," Kyungsoo mutters, reaching for a Pokeball in his belt pack. He offers a smile to Nurse Jinri as a last word, then turns to Baekhyun, saying, "Later."

Baekhyun snorts. Hands Kyungsoo a Pokeball, as well, marked with a tiny 'e' at the center. It looks like chicken scratch, or something Baekhyun had decided to doodle on the capsule on a whim. Maybe he was bored then. Maybe he was getting tired of guessing who was in which Pokeball. And maybe Kyungsoo shouldn't even be wondering about these things anymore. So he takes the capsule from Baekhyun's hand, lets the touch linger longer than it should, then pulls away when he takes a step back.

" _If_ we still get a 'later'," Baekhyun answers. "I mean, hello, end of the world number I-don't-know-anymore! We've been through this shit so many times already and–" One corner of his lips curls up at the same time that his words thin into air. It's the same smug smile he used to give Sunyoung whenever the little girl challenged him to creating the best sand castle in the world, or eating the most sticks of cotton candy. They'd both lose, in the end, sporting matching coughs and colds, but maybe that was the point – entertaining each other's bad ideas, sharing each other's joy and pain. Knowing when to pull each other out of the quicksand and knowing to kick each other onto the sand, face first, in the name of fun and keeping each other from crying ugly tears over unsatisfactory test scores. Being the best of friends and sticking with each other no matter what.

"We will," Kyungsoo says after a while. Doesn't add, _I promise._

Baekhyun's lips hang parted for a second, then he's pressing them together, curling them up at the corners. "I'll see you, then," he whispers, then stretches out his hand for Pikachu to climb on. Soon, Baekhyun's disappearing behind the door, leading a troupe of electric-type Pokemon down to the basement where they can work on recharging the generators for when they suddenly run out of power. Soon, Soojung and Sunyoung are closing in on him, asking, "How can we help?" And the next thing he knows, his Gear is ringing, his brother's name flashing on the screen in a big, bold characters.

"Hyung, I'm alive," he whispers into the receiver as he gathers the psychic-types in front of him, then sends out his Gardevoir. Seungsoo says something about explosions and some cities being swallowed whole by weird 'crater-portal-things', but some of the details begin to blur at the back of Kyungsoo's mind. To Sunyoung and Soojung, he's mouthing, _You two take the back and make these psychic-types create a barrier around the Center. Multiple layers. Ten, if they can manage. I'll take care of the rest._ "What– An entire _city_ disappeared?"

Sunyoung cranes her neck a little and cocks an eyebrow at Kyungsoo. Her lips are parted just a little, as if poised to ask something, but soon she's shaking her head and dragging Soojung to the back, along with several other Pokemon. The other trainers who have remained in the Center are helping disconnect some of the electronics that they won't be using in a while, securing shelves. Just doing whatever they can do to help and not cause any more trouble to the already mounting chaos all around them.

"A county _and_ a city," Seungsoo replies, pausing to clear his throat. Some static on the line and he's back, but then the constant crackling in the line makes it nigh impossible to hear anything clearly. All Kyungsoo knows for sure is this: the county of Boeun disappeared first, according to reports, followed by the city of Chungju being erased from the map all of a sudden. "It's like there's a giant... hole on the ground. There are bodies of water where there used to be cities and districts. Lakes everywhere–"

"Soojung!" Kyungsoo calls out, pressing the heel of his palm to the receiver of his gear for a quick second. "I need you to check on Professor Kwon and the Lake trio. Cities have been disappearing–"

"Cities have been _what?_ "

"Disappearing. The whole thing with the land mass. There's nothing but water left where the cities used to be," he explains. He takes a deep breath, then, pausing when he feels a sharp sting in his throat. He's never been a fan of talking too much, but then he doesn't have a choice – he has to tell people what to do, else they'll all just be sitting here and wishing for a 'later' without doing something about the 'right now'. "Check on them, _now._ Sunyoung can take care of the barriers."

Soojung takes a deep breath, then tosses a Pokeball in his direction. "Use him well. I'll try to connect with Minseok-oppa, as well. Maybe we can regroup later, once the earthquake's subsided. I'll... keep you posted." She bites the inside of the cheek, then adds, "I'll be in the meeting room – Nurse Jinri, is that alri–"

Nurse Jinri looks up from where she's been coaxing a little Mime Jr. to return to its Pokeball while cradling a young trainer in her arms. She's about three feet in height or just a bit under, and she's worrying her bottom lip while shifting her gaze between Nurse Jinri and Kyungsoo. She sort of reminds Kyungsoo of Sunyoung when she was much, much younger. Also, when she was not as snarky and as hostile as she can be now that they're a decade older. "No worries," Nurse Jinri says after a while, choking in her syllables as she hauls the little girl up, holding her tighter. "Feel free to use the meeting room. We should still be connected to most of the Centers around the country, but I can't guarantee fast connection right– _Ah,_ stay still, little one–"

"I just want to help, but she won't let me," the little girl says, focusing her gaze on Kyungsoo and Kyungsoo alone. Kyungsoo lifts his eyebrows at that, leans back a little, gulps hard because what do you tell a kid whose only intention is to help make the world a better place at the height of a war? He can't tell her she's too young; this girl's almost eight, just two years before she can start her Pokemon journey if they're following old League rules. She has a Pokemon of her own. She has no guardian with her in this Center and her only family here right now is this tiny Mime Jr. poking at Kyungsoo's calf. "She says it's dangerous outside and–"

"It is," Kyungsoo says, thinning his voice into a whisper. He inches closer to her, then, brushes her bangs to the side and tucks some stray strands behind her ears. He gives her cheek a soft pinch, as well, just to see if he can spark a smile in the kid. Seungsoo's always told Kyungsoo he was good with little girls; dealing with kids his age, however, is another story. "So my friends and I will be going out there to see what we can do–"

"But what about me? I can help, right, oppa?" The little girl tugs on the sleeve of Kyungsoo's shirt and _shit,_ he can't be dealing with kids right now. Gardevoir's sauntering to the exit on its own as if reading his thoughts and rallying the other psychic-types to go with it, as well, _but still–_ "I'm a trainer. I have a Pokemon. And I know I'm tiny but I beat some of my classmates before and–" She breathes out, jutting out her bottom lip. "I just want to help."

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath. Nurse Jinri's smiling, the corners of her lips quivering a little like she's struggling trying to keep it together. She doesn't say anything, though, just looks up at Kyungsoo through the slits of her bangs as if saying, go on, you're doing great. _Keep it up, little Do._ So he runs his fingers through the little girl's hair and says, "And you will. But you have to stay inside first, okay? Because the moment my friends and I get busted by those _suuuper_ strong Pokemon, I want you to be the one to fight for all of us."

"Me?" The girl widens her eyes at him like she's saying, are you out of your mind? And maybe he is. But then every battle requires an ounce of optimism, a bit of luck. And a whole litre of craziness enough to pull you through until the very end. "You want _me_ to defeat the evil guys for you?"

Kyungsoo chuckles. "Yeah, why not? You're a tiny powerhouse," he says, then leans in to place a soft kiss to her forehead. "Now, I'm going to go out there in a bit so I want you to prepare for the big fight here alright? You and your Mime Jr.?"

"Oppa, you really think I can do this?"

If the entire country was able to rise from the ashes, to breathe again after the war, then, "Of course." He reaches over for a last time, then says, "I trust you."

She says nothing more after that, just looks up at Kyungsoo like he's some beacon of light, or a superhero, or a savior. He laughs a little, cracks his neck to shake off the weird, sinking sensation, but to no avail – his stomach keeps lurching and his heart is still racing in his chest and the thrumming pulse at the back of his knees, his elbows, his ears hasn't stilled. And he's wearing the silliest smile as he swings the door open, facing the ruins of the earthquake or the time and space shift, whatever it is. He looks ridiculous, but if ridiculous is what will get things done and save the world or even just let him put up barriers around the Pokemon Center then he has no qualms with it. He'll brandish the grin on his lips and wear it until the shaking of the ground dies down, until the rumbling noise thins into silence and the only thing he'll be able to hear is the sound of familiar voices right behind him, all saying, we've made, we've made it, _we're still alive._

 _Later,_ the word rings in his ears in a voice so distinct he can navigate his way to it even with his eyes closed. So he holds onto that – the voice, the tone, the promise – a lighthouse in the midst of the storm, and heads out into battle with his fingers pressed to the key stone in his ring.

"Gardevoir, mega evolve, now!"

Gardevoir looks over its shoulder and gives him the biggest, brightest smile.

↔

Kyungsoo grips his knees tight and pushes himself up, leaning against the wall. Some of the Pokemon he'd brought along with him have already given up an hour after the ground began to shake, slumped against the door and breathing heavy and slow, but some are still standing. Espeon and Gardevoir are the ones leading the strengthening of the barrier this time, after Nurse Jinri's Mr. Mine passed out for a few seconds due to fatigue. He looks at them with heavy eyes, and aching eyebrows. The thick lump stuck in his throat is keeping him from breathing easily. Still, he can make the scratches on their arms, their cheeks, the hints of ashes on their bodies and the way Espeon's breathing has become more shallow, ragged.

"Let it go for a minute," he tells Espeon, then, reaching out to rest a hand on the slope of Espeon's back. Espeon's response is a shake of the head, a shrug, trying to shuck off Kyungsoo's hand with a wave its tail. If this were any other day then he'd relent – Espeon's not his own, after all – but they're in the middle of the war. And if they plan to keep the barriers up for a few more hours or until the shift in space eases then these Pokemon can't just pour everything they have into one big attack. They have to learn how to temper their power, release it in spurts. Espeon needs to rest.

"Just one minute, and then you can take Gardevoir's place," he tries this time, inching closer to Espeon. Espeon doesn't budge, though, doesn't even flinch when he tries to slide a hand up the Pokemon's nape to try to calm it down. He's seen Baekhyun do this from time to time, when his Espeon is feeling a bit too tense, sometimes restless, maybe even out of it. He may not have the same warmth that Baekhyun does, sure, but that doesn't mean he can't try. So he keeps at it, giving the back of Espeon's ear light caresses and scratches until he feels the Pokemon's muscles relax against his own. "Now go inside and go to Nurse Jinri, alright? I'll check back on you in a bit. I just–"

He chokes mid-sentence when he hears explosions not too far away, when he feels the earth shake again, stronger this time, like it plans to take down everything and everyone who's still standing on two feet. He presses his palms to the ground when the tremors grow louder, then reaches out to tug at the hem of Gardevoir's skirt just to let his Pokemon know that he's still here, he's still around, _don't worry about me even if you can hear me panicking in my mind._ Gardevoir lets out a loud cry as a response and glows an even brighter shade of purple, but then Kyungsoo can hear Gardevoir taking quick, shallow breaths, can hear the hitch in its breathing. And he can feel the hair at the back of his nape stand when he sees the other Pokemon with him, some cowering in fear and some just staring at what's unfolding in front of them. So he drops the hand he'd been using to connect with Gardevoir, reaches for the other Pokemon with it and coaxes them to inch closer to him, to come huddle. If anything ever goes wrong then he can easily drape his limbs all over these Pokemon and shield them from harm. Easy. But not painless.

He squints hard, trying to make out which building it is that's crashing four blocks from where they are, but the smoke around them is too thick that it's almost impossible to see anything beyond two feet away. Still, he blinks, doesn't stop trying until he hears hurried steps from inside the Center, until he hears hushed murmurs. He shivers a little.

"We've lost connection with the other Centers!" comes a voice from inside, a bit muffled but still cutting through Kyungsoo's senses, clear as crystal. It sounds a lot like Nurse Jinri. Or it would have sounded exactly like her if the woman's voice hadn't been shaking, all chopped up. Then the doors behind him slide to the side, revealing Nurse Jinri's figure, the downward pull at the corners of her lips, her sullen eyes. "Get inside. The barriers should be good for now–" Some crashing again, then, "We need to conserve the Pokemon's energy. _Everyone's_ energy. So please, Kyungsoo, _get inside._ "

Kyungsoo takes a deep, deep breath. I would if I could, he wants to say, but his throat feels too tight and dry and his knees don't even feel like bones anymore. They feel like jelly, too loose and wobbly, without a firm form. And his arms are littered with scars all over. He could be bleeding now and he just doesn't know it. "One last," he whispers to Nurse Jinri, then gives Gardevoir's skirt one last tug. "Get the other Pokemon here inside. They need to be healed up. Your Mr. Mime's drained to the bone."

Nurse Jinri gulps hard, then gives him a firm nod. "Got it," she whispers, then slips inside the Center again. She doesn’t close the doors yet, though, keeps them pushed to the sides and tels Kyungsoo, "Sunyoung and the others are safe. I told them to get inside, as well. You're the only one we're waiting for."

"Does Professor Kwon know?"

Nurse Jinri laughs a little. "She doesn't have to if you don't want her to find out."

Kyungsoo laughs a little, but for the most part it sounds like he's coughing through his nose. He looks over his shoulder, then, and addresses Nurse Jinri with a curt nod, saying, "Thanks. I'll be with you in a bit."

'In a bit' means an entire minute of trying to ease Gardevoir out of the surge of power coursing through its veins, both from mega evolving and from the desire to help out and try to save the world. The shaking has already died down a bit and he no longer has to press his palms to the ground, but he still has to lean against the wall for support. He can't even feel his knees and ankles anymore; they're as good as gone, like they've been replaced with liquid or jell-o because with having to sustain the impact of the earthquake comes having to be flexible enough to adjust to the attacks, to find ways to soften each tremor somehow. He recalls Gardevoir to its capsule, then, and slips inside the Center as soon as he hears the soft 'click' of the Pokeball. And really, he's expecting a bit of ruin and chaos inside, what with all the crashing and crushing that he'd heard when he was still trying to keep the barrier outside steady, but nothing could have prepared him for this – rubble on the floor, wires dangling from the ceiling, Pokemon trying to repair the Center from the inside, hand in hand. Trainers trying their best to make the load lighter and some trainers coming out of the kitchen with serving trays loaded with food.

"Surprise?" Sunyoung says when she slides next to him, looking up at him with a smile. He breathes out, then, low, almost muted, through the narrow parting of his lips. And he knows he should say something, but all the words that were threatening to spill from his lips earlier have crawled back down his throat. Made a home for themselves there without any promise of leaving. So when Sunyoung nudges him in his side, telling him, "You can stop gaping now and start helping," he only nods, blinks at her. Smiles.

"Baekhyun's safe, by the way," she mentions just before Kyungsoo walks past her, headed for the kitchen. "He went down to check on the electrics again but he should be back in a bit. Said he was hungry before going down so he's probably gonna be back here in–"

"I'll bring the food to him," Kyungsoo says, voice dropping to a whisper. He tilts his head a little and meets her gaze, hoping she'd understand what it means – we need to talk again, maybe this is the last time we'll get to talk. _You know what I mean, right?_ He watches as Sunyoung drops her gaze to her feet, as hetwists her mouth in a way that Kyungsoo can't decipher just yet. Maybe this is some code for no, I won't let you bring the food to him but I _can_ make you bring him up here so we can all eat in peace. Maybe she's just undecided at the moment, still thinking if she should send Kyungsoo down there and run into the risk of having two trainers working non-stop on recharging batteries in the basement. Maybe she's hoping Kyungsoo will change is mind. But that's nigh impossible – his resolve is strong as steel. The only time it ever crumbles is in the heat of the press of Baekhyun's body against his. "Is it in the kitchen? Or did you whip up something special–"

"Jjigae, actually. I... made some jjigae for us," Sunyoung answers. Her shoulders shake a little. She isn't even laughing; she's just shaking her head like she's just been found out. "Turns out that Nurse Jinri and her assistants here aren't too big on spicy food, _so!_ "

So you'll use that as a cover up for trying to do something special for us as a last gift, if the world ever ends within the next few days? Kyungsoo doesn't say that, though, Doesn't even let it show in his features as he presses his lips together in a thin, thin line. Fighting the upward curl on his lips is a struggle; the lurching of his stomach, even more. So as soon as the sensation hits him, he takes a step back, promises Sunyoung, "I'll bring him back up in five minutes."

Sunyoung waves him off without another word but holds the door open for him. Only when he's halfway down the staircase does she call out, "Take your time if you have to!"

He finds Baekhyun sitting on the floor when he alights the last flight of stairs. Baekhyun's figure is slumped right in front of one of the generators, shoulders hunched and his head hung low. Pikachu has its head rested against Baekhyun's thigh, then there are at least two more Pichu's in the cradle of Baekhyun's legs. He tries to keep his steps quiet, then, tries not to startle Baekhyun, but soon the machine of the generator roars to life and a computer-sounding voice, so cold and mechanical, booms across the expanse of room. He stands still for a while, one foot off the ground and the other poised to tip-toe, and then the roaring dies down. And Baekhyun's head is snapping up, shifting from side to side as Baekhyun looks all around him with wide eyes. " _Fuck,_ I shouldn't have fallen asleep– Aww, fuck, what if we overcharged the generator? What if–"

"Hey," Kyungsoo whispers, then takes one loud step closer to Baekhyun. When Baekhyun looks up at him, eyes wide and eyebrows still lifted in shock, he smiles. "Looks like the generators sapped the life out of you, huh?"

Baekhyun scoffs and rolls his eyes. He gets up on his knees then pushes himself up, all the way until he's stretching his arms overhead. Kyungsoo's makes himself comfortable beside Baekhyun, slipping right into place and twisting his torso just a little so that he can see Baekhyun better. And he can't tell yet if that's a good decision because up close, with this thinning distance between them, he can make out the dark circles under Baekhyun's eyes, the pimples flaunted on his cheeks. The scars from all those battles, both in the gym and on the road, that he's gotten himself into, all tattooed on his skin. And he can hear Baekhyun's long, drawn out breathing, the same sound that he makes in lieu of saying that he gives up, he'll just try again sometime but not anytime soon. The sound of defeat that doesn't go well with the sound of Baekhyun's voice that's almost always bright and warm.

"They _zapped_ the life out of me," Baekhyun counters, grinning. And then it's gone, the hint of fatigue, replaced instead by a sliver of light shining down on his features, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he shakes his own head at his joke. "How's are the barriers, though. Holding up well?" he asks, then inches to his right to tap the little space between them. Kyungsoo moves even closer as if the drumming of the beat was an invitation. And Baekhyun inches even father when their knees bump, making just a bit space enough for Kyungsoo to find a more comfortable fit in. "Last I heard, Espeon almost passed out but your Gardy saved her."

Kyungsoo leans back a little. On a normal day, he'd try to fight back at the very least and tell Baekhyun to _never_ call his Gardevoir ‘Gardy’, maybe even cock an eyebrow at Baekhyun, but instead he just lets his shoulders do that funny twitch when he doesn't know what to do yet. Then he breathes out, through his nose as he tries to gather his words. 'I'm sorry for almost getting your Espeon in danger' should be a good start. Or maybe he can cut the chase and jump straight to, 'I'm sorry there was even a need to put your Pokemon in danger when Gardevoir could have handled it alone.'

"She did great, your Espeon," he says, instead, then wets his lips for a bit with a light lick. Baekhyun's chest heaves, shoulders lifting a little, and he lifts his gaze back to Kyungsoo's eyes just as quickly as he drops it to the swell of Kyungsoo's lips. "Didn't know you'd trained her to be hyper defensive."

Then Baekhyun's twisting his mouth into the most indiscernible smile-frown-scowl kind of thing, where half of his face is scrunched up in the most unattractive way possible. "Yeah, _hyper defensive._ I wonder where she got that, hmm?" Baekhyun says, humming, swaying his head from side to side just a little. His lips are curled up in that gentle lift that makes him look like a kid who's up to no good. But then all of Baekhyun's bad ideas somehow end up being good ones. All of a sudden, it feels as if they're not smack in the middle of the war, like there aren't buildings falling all around them and that the ground beneath them has just stopped shaking. It feels like ten, eleven years ago when the only thing they had to worry about was the waves chasing them away from the sea, making them rush back to shore even before they can start playing.

It feels like seeing each other again in Mokpo-si, the ten years that had separated them thinning into a single lock of gazes, a simple 'hello'.

"She must have learned from the best," Kyungsoo mutters in response after a while, then nudges Baekhyun in his side. Baekhyun says nothing else, just leans his head on Kyungsoo's shoulder and breathes out a long and loud sigh.

They stay there in companionable silence for a while, until Baekhyun almost drifts off again as he monitors Manectric filling the last generator to the brim. Kyungsoo reaches up with his right hand, then, holding Baekhyun's head in place, keeping Baekhyun from moving around too much as he muffles all sorts of sounds where he has his lips pressed to the slope of Kyungsoo's neck. And he's weakening. His limbs are too sore from sustaining too many cuts, from the tight press of his body against Baekhyun, from the weird, awkward fit of their bodies. His shoulder feels like it might give away soon because Baekhyun's head is _so fucking heavy_ , but Baekhyun's soft humming makes him feel unbearably light. And Baekhyun's breath feels too hot on his skin, too much, that the softest puff of air and the slightest brush of Baekhyun's lips against his neck makes his breath hitch and his stomach lurch in several different directions. Maybe he's just hungry. Maybe he just needs to rest. Maybe he just needs time to breathe. But if he wanted that then he should've just called for Baekhyun from the foot of the stairs, should've just told him, hey, Sunyoung cooked jjigae for us. You're not going to chicken out again this time, are you?

"Wish we could stay like this," Baekhyun mumbles, syllables caught in the tiny hiccups of his breath. He slurs the last few syllables but Kyungsoo manages to catch them, crystal clear. Manages to process them at the back of his mind while Baekhyun plays with their fingers, dusty and bruised. "I mean, we're at war with all the Rockets and their legendaries right now and I swear to god, if we're not lucky we're alive then I dunno anymore," he continues, pausing only to chuckle. Soon, though, he's coughing, moving his head in the opposite direction, pulling away. Kyungsoo feels his arms jerk at the sudden rush of cold, at his blood coursing through his system again like it's supposed to, at every part of his body working the way it should again without Baekhyun weighing down on him. It feels weird, though, sort of like he's walking down the streets of Busan-si naked, stripped to just his skin. "Or maybe they're just saving the best for last–"

"Or maybe we're just tired and hungry," Kyungsoo offers. Pinches Baekhyun in his side when Baekhyun makes a silly face at him that sounds a lot like, yeah, party-pooper, keep going.

"Or maybe the gods are on _our_ side, hmm?" Baekhyun wiggles his eyebrows, smirks. Grins in earnest when Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, but presses his lips together to a tiny smile when Kyungsoo cocks an eyebrow at him. Then he's holding his hands up in front of himself, inching back little by little like he's certain Kyungsoo will reach over to hit him instead of to kiss. No guarantees, Kyungsoo wants to tell him. _No guarantees that I won't do both._ "I'm not saying that the best way to die is by having mind-blowing sex just before the great war, okay? I'm just saying that we keep getting... all these 'laters' that we keep postponing to 'somedays'. 'Somedays' that we might never have again." He rubs the underside of his nose, sniffling, then grimacing when he realizes that he's just smeared grease just above his upper lip. Kyungsoo only rolls his eyes at that and reaches out, wiping the smidgen of black away, tracing the edge of Baekhyun's top lip with the side of his thumb. "What if we die tomorrow? What if we never get to see the end of the mission? What if–"

"What if you just asked me again–" Kyungsoo begins, then sucks in his bottom lip. "–if you could– You know–"

"Kiss you?" Baekhyun asks. It sounds more like a squeak.

Kyungsoo laughs a little and nods. "Yeah, that."

Baekhyun takes a deep, deep breath. His shoulders lift, slow, torturous, at the same time that Kyungsoo runs his tongue along his bottom lip. Stick to the plan, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says, don't lose your way, Kyungsoo, don't give in, but then isn't this the path he'd been laying the tracks to all his life? He has four badges to boast of and a fifth that might not ever come should the war defeat him before he beats the gym leader. He's seen at least sixty percent of the Pokemon listed in the PokeDex that Professor Kwon has given. He's managed to coax Ralts out of fear and help it evolve into a mighty Gardevoir. And he's found new friends in both Pokemon and the people he's met throughout his journey. Heck, he's saved the world at least three times already and even helped set legendary Pokemon free – he's nailed every goal in the plan he's made for himself. If he had a map then he'd have already marked every fucking X on it _twice._ So isn't it about time for him to travel a less trodden path? Isn't it time for him to drop the map and just keep pressing forward without a plan. Isn't it time to give in?

He inches closer. A few more breaths, and then their foreheads bump. Baekhyun wrinkles his nose at the collision, makes this tiny gurgling noise at the back of his throat that sounds a lot like, wow, way to ruin the moment, Byun. You're getting good at this– But before Baekhyun can finish, Kyungsoo reaches out, sliding his hands up Baekhyun's own. He wraps his fingers around Baekhyun's slender wrists and tugs him closer because walking on one's bruised, aching knees is a bit too much even for someone who's saved the world from Team Rocket countless times already. "This feels like a dance number or something," Baekhyun comments, mumbling, and that's when Kyungsoo pinches Baekhyun again, this time in the stomach at the same time that he laughs. "What? I'm just– We’re, like, stuck on the first dance sequence or something. You know, it wasn't this hard when we were still kids–"

Kyungsoo snorts. He sucks in a deep breath, parting his lips a little. "Harder?"

Baekhyun shrugs. Tilts his head, as well, and leans in even more like Kyungsoo's lips are an invitation. His mouth hangs open, slivers of tiny sounds spilling from the corners like he wants to say something, but nothing's coming out. And he keeps looking up, into Kyungsoo's eyes, keeps dragging his gaze from the bridge of Kyungsoo's nose all the way down to where Kyungsoo's sucking in his bottom lip. Kyungsoo hears his breath hitch. Maybe this isn't the right 'later' for them, or maybe the time has already passed. If they're good enough boys who can keep their hands to themselves then maybe the god of time can bring them back to that perfect moment when all they had to do was take a step closer to each other and let their lips guide them home. Maybe–

"Yeah, sort of," Baekhyun answers after a while, laughing a little. Only then does Kyungsoo realize how close Baekhyun is, how wet and warm Baekhyun's lips feel on his skin, on his cheek, just inches shy of his mouth. And they could be tasting each other now, but then Baekhyun's speaking again, this time without the tremble to his voice. And Kyungsoo's not the type to run away. He's never been the first to take flight. "Because back then, I didn't know what I wanted."

"And you do now?" Kyungsoo asks.

Baekhyun presses his lips even more to the side of Kyungsoo's mouth, dragging a long stripe there. And then he blows hot air onto Kyungsoo's cheek, pulling away only to giggle – at the groan Kyungsoo lets out, at their flushed cheeks, at way his hands tremble when he reaches up to cup Kyungsoo's cheeks in his palms. It can be anything. Baekhyun stares at him, just kind of looks at him with his head tilted to the side, lips parted in thought. Half of Kyungsoo feels like jumping on the first train out of the city, running away as early as now because he _knows_ the difference a kiss can spark. But the other half of him wants to stay, remain hopeful, wishing and resisting in equal parts.

So he sucks in a deep breath and asks, "Are you going to do it or am _I_ going to do it?"

Baekhyun laughs, shoulders shaking. And then finally, surrendering, he asks, "Can I kiss you now?"

Kyungsoo bites the inside of his cheek, swallowing hard around the thick lump in his throat. "What do _you_ think?"

I think it's a stupid answer, part of Kyungsoo wants to tell himself, to say out loud. He's twenty now, wiser, richer with experience. He's spent neatly three thousand hours on the road, traveling on his own and fighting evil with the help of friends he's met along the way. He should know better now than to answer a question with another question. That's weird, _stupid._ And he hates being that. But then Baekhyun makes it easy to lose his vocabulary, makes it easy to just surrender to the many bad ideas running in his mind right now. So he takes in a violent, rattling breath and keeps his lips parted _just so,_ enough that if Baekhyun ever feels like taking a step back and running a way again halfway through the collision then _he_ won't have to feel the sudden rush of cold to his lips, his chest, the rest of his body.

"Can't believe we're finally doing this," Baekhyun whispers, laughing a bit. There's the same tremble in his voice, the one Kyungsoo'd heard weeks ago when they had a conversation in the forest about leaving, running away, having something to return to, something to come home for time and again. It makes Kyungsoo shiver a little, makes him too aware of the burning sensation on his thighs, his arms, the small of his back, all of which aren't touching Baekhyun. Then Baekhyun's body gives a tiny jerk as he traces light lines from Kyungsoo's nape down to the shoulders, cool fingers leaving sketches of goosebumps on Kyungsoo's skin. And Baekhyun's giggling. He looks like some lovesick teenager who's finally, finally, _finally_ getting what he wants, like some kid who's receiving candy after being such a good boy and for cleaning up his own mess. A boy who deserves _this_ as much as he deserves to hear that one word that Kyungsoo has been long choking down, pushing to the very back of his throat for fear of blurting it out in a clumsy enunciation.

"Yes," Kyungsoo breathes out. He tightens his hold on Baekhyun and pulls him closer. He can hear the hitch in Baekhyun's breathing, can see the makings of a wicked grin. So he closes his eyes, shuts them tight and lets the rest of his senses take over. "Yes, you may."

Baekhyun grins. Kyungsoo doesn't see it, just feels the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun's mouth where Baekhyun has his lips etched onto Kyungsoo's skin. And then he feels the brush of Baekhyun's lips against his, wet and warm, _rough_ , chapped. For a moment, he's worried about getting grease on his lips, as well, about them walking back to the surface with matching grease moustaches, but then Baekhyun steals all of his attention, making their lips meet in a tight, dry press. Baekhyun licks the corners of his mouth, light, tentative, then presses chaste kisses on his top lip, his bottom lip, the space where his fake grease moustache could be if Baekhyun kissed him hard enough. He can feel Baekhyun's hands trembling on his skin, can feel Baekhyun's pattering pulse on his collarbones, the base of his throat, parts of him that Baekhyun keeps touching but not kissing. And he can feel his insides turning. A familiar sizzle crawls down his abdomen at the same time that Baekhyun sucks on his bottom lip then grazes his teeth there, just so, enough for him throw his head back, to let out a low groan. This is it, a voice at the back of his mind says, the part where Baekhyun pushes him away and looks at him with wide eyes then turns on his heel without another word. This is the part where they don't see each other again for another ten years because they're two stupid kids in love who knew only how to listen to the people around them but not to their own hearts. This is the part where Kyungsoo rushes to the sea, going for a long swim, and regrets having sore limbs, coughs and colds and the worst fever in summer, and a dull ache in his jaw that would haunt him for years.

But Baekhyun hasn't parted from him yet, keeps kissing the corners of his mouth, keeps giving his bottom lip light sucks as if in apology, as if asking in a small, small voice, _will you ever let me in again?_

Yes, Kyungsoo whispers to himself, and catches Baekhyun's top lip, Baekhyun's soft gasp, the faint, breathy sigh spilling from Baekhyun's lips between his own. _Yes._

He leans closer, chases after Baekhyun's lips, sucks long and hard on Baekhyun's bottom lip enough to earn him a moan. A bit more, and their noses bump, Baekhyun's laughter sticking to his skin like sand in the desert, like waves that linger in their bodies long after they've returned to shore. His throat feels tight and dry and there are a hundred – no, a thousand words that he could be saying right now, but his jaw aches and his mouth feels too sore and Baekhyun tastes good, too good on his lips. So he leans in again, plants a soft kiss to the tip of Baekhyun's nose, the corners of his mouth, his cheeks, the underside of Baekhyun's jaw where the taste of sand and sweat explode on his tongue. Maps out a path of kisses on Baekhyun's face, the column of his neck, his collarbones like he's exploring new territory. It feels weird to be kissing your best friend after ten years of pushing and pulling and just wanting to give in but not quite tipping over. It feels strange to be exploring familiar paths and yet finding something new at every turn of the head. And maybe Baekhyun's feeling it, too, shivering under Kyungsoo's heated touch, but Baekhyun keeps kissing him, anyway, keeps snaking his hands under Kyungsoo's shirt with a peculiar kind of confidence in the trembling of his fingers, all the way up until his shirt bunches up near their necks and they have to break away from the kiss. There's a whole constellation of marks on his chest now where Baekhyun has been leaving scars on his skin and his jaw _aches_ and every part of him that Baekhyun has touched _stings_ , but he doesn't mind. So he lets Baekhyun guide him down, back pressed to the cold floor, crashing down on the sand even before the waves reach the shore.

↔

They hear it again, the crashing, just thirty minutes before the day ends. They're gathered on the floor, sitting on the floor in many different positions, limbs brushing against each other from time to time. Kyungsoo's got his 'ass flat on his legs,' as Baekhyun has nicely put, because his knees still feel to weak and wobbly and he has too many wounds on them. It's impossible for sitting cross-legged with the possibility of knocking his bruised skin into someone else's to be tolerable, if not painless. Baekhyun's just beside him, back pressed to his side, head rested on his shoulder. Baekhyun's hands are everywhere – sometimes on the floor, other times tapping a beat on his legs. Sometimes on Kyungsoo's thigh, as well, when nobody's looking. Opposite them, Soojung and Sunyoung are duking it out for the last sip of Chilsung Cider. "We have more in the fridge," Nurse Jinri calls out to the two from a few feet away, but they keep at it anyway. In the end, Sunyoung spills the last few gulps of the beverage onto the shirt of the trainer beside her and knocks the can into Soojung's face. She apologizes for the spill, but not for the smidgen of red flaunted near Soojung's nose. So Baekhyun does it for her, reaches out to Soojung and pinches her nose as he says, "Aww. It's alright, Soojungie. It won't hurt as much after a while–"

The ground shakes. Or at least that's what it feels like, because Baekhyun keeps shifting and his hair's tickling Kyungsoo's neck and he keeps moving his arms, his hands around. One second, he's reaching up for Kyungsoo's nape; the next second, he's gripping Kyungsoo by the thigh. The very next, he sitting upright, reaching for Kyungsoo's wrist, wrapping his cold fingers around Kyungsoo's warm skin. Kyungsoo's breath hitches, then, and he turns to look at Baekhyun – looking for a sign, for clues, for an explanation, he isn't sure. All he knows is that the ground hasn't stopped moving even if Baekhyun's dangerously still, and that the lights above them are flickering again.

Kyungsoo shifts his gaze, tilting head a little to meet Sunyoung's wandering eyes. "Check the Pokemon. I'll check the front," he says, then pushes himself up. He winces when he makes the mistake of kneeling but presses on, anyway, up, up, _up_ until he's back on his feet. He tries to look through the window to see what's happening outside, if he wants to find out at all, but it's too dark out. The lamp posts are out of commission and electricity in the entire block – heck, maybe even the entire city – is still out, _has been out_ for the past three hours. He can't see anything beyond six, seven feet of the Center all around. And the ground is still rumbling. The tremors are much stronger now, enough to make him stutter in his steps and press his palms to the closes wall for balance.

He feels a warm palm on the small of his back, then warm breath against his nape. "Careful. You don't want to injure yourself even more," Baekhyun murmurs, more like _whispers_ or just breathes against his skin. He can't tell yet. He can't feel much beyond the violent shaking of the ground and the hanging electricity in the air prickling his skin and the thumping in his chest. And if the ground keeps shaking and the crashing outside continues then this might just be the soundtrack he'll be playing in his head for the next few hours. "Let's check outside?"

Kyungsoo looks to his side, meeting Baekhyun's gaze. "Yeah, we should," he answers, then tells Soojung, "Can you check with Professor Kwon and Minseok-hyung?"

"I'm on it," Soojung says, waving a hand in the air. Her fingers are trembling, though. It's impossible not to notice with the light too bright here inside. It's impossible not to take note of with the darkness just beyond the walls of the Center, making everything on their side of the world glow.

The scene outside... feels different, for some reason. It isn't completely dark – Kyungsoo can still see hints of figures a few feet away, can make out shards of glass on the floor or that incoming plant pot that's about to crash to the ground a few feet away. He takes a deep breath, then, trying to see more, but then he starts coughing. Pounds his chest when he feels himself choking on dust and smoke. Baekhyun calls out his Pikachu to help light up the place, reminds it to stay close by because, "You'll never know." but the it isn't quite enough. The city is too big and the clouds of smoke around them are too thick for Pikachu to even attempt to clear the sky with its Thunderbolt attack or whatever else Baekhyun's thinking of making it do.

"Growlithe, light up the gas lamps. Just a couple of them there, come on–" Kyungsoo whispers, reaching for the capsule in his belt pack and tossing it onto the road. Growlithe comes bursting from the ball, shaking its lower body as it stretches or maybe to get rid of the last dregs of fatigue still clinging to its body. Growlithe looks around, then turns to Kyungsoo with wide eyes even before it can finish scanning the street. "Just light up the posts, the ones that are supposed to be gas lamps. Use Will-o-Wisp, please," Kyungsoo says, then, trying to keep his tone as level, as calm as possible. "Start with this one– Alright, that's good. Keep it up."

It takes a minute or two for both Growlithe and Pikachu to work on lighting up the street. It feels a lot like watching a movie – first is the exposition where they get a glimpse of the chaos around them, the rubble, the fallen pots and trees. Then it builds – Pokemon slumped against walls, people flinching at the first sign of light, then bursting into tears. Builds even more when a crowd that has gathered a few feet away from the Center makes a collective gasp like they're seeing light for the first time. And then the climax – Pikachu and Growlithe set down the last fire ball on the lamp post close to the entrance to the biggest fishing port, and– "Wow," Kyungsoo whispers. With the entire block illuminated, it's easier to see the bigger picture now. Easier on the eyes, but not any lighter on the heart, Kyungsoo muses as he takes a deep breath. There are fallen buildings, disassembled tents, some parts of the ship scattered on the floor. Unconscious people, as well, whose Pokemon are trying to nudge back to consciousness, to life.

Is this a joke? a voice at the back of his mind says. Because if its then _fuck,_ it's not a good one. It's not funny at all. He's not drunk enough for this. Heck, he isn't even sure if Chilsung Cider is supposed to get anyone drunk. "Turn off the lights," he hears Baekhyun say, _breathe out_ into the thick, smoky air. Then he feels cool fingers brushing against the back of his hand, Baekhyun reaching out to slot his fingers between Kyungsoo's own and gripping Kyungsoo tight. "We have to put out the lights. We're going to make everyone freak out. We're–" Baekhyun smiles, laughs, scoffs. Shakes his head like he can't believe what he's saying and suggesting and even thinking. "We can't let them see this! What if we just– Do we have enough space in the Center? Maybe we can accommodate– Hey, you, duck Pokemon! Psyduck!" Baekhyun licks his lips and lifts their intertwined hands, brushing the back of his hand against his eyes in a quick, fluid motion. "Drag your trainer over here–"

"Baekhyun, _stop._ "

"Yeah, I know, that's why we should put these lights out as soon as we get those people who _need_ medical atten– Yah, you over there! Kid in the red hoodie! Bring your Rapidash over–"

" _Baekhyun–_ "

Kyungsoo wraps his fingers around Baekhyun's wrist, grip tightening as soon as he feels the snug fit of their hands. Baekhyun keeps craning his neck, though, keeps looking at the far end of the line of people slowly inching closer to the Center, keeps looking at _everything, everyone but him._ So he reaches up, slaps his palms against Baekhyun's cheeks once, twice, _thrice,_ until Baekhyun's grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and saying, "What the hell–" And he holds Baekhyun at a safe distance, eyes focused and locked onto Baekhyun's own.

"Baekhyun, hey– _Hey–_ " He grips Baekhyun by the cheeks, forcing Baekhyun to face forward. Here, at least, he can see Baekhyun's features better, can see if Baekhyun's eyes are no longer red and if he isn't snivelling and if he isn't at the brink of letting everyone out here in the streets inside the Center. And he can see himself reflected in Baekhyun's eyes, cheeks shaking and lips parted a little, lips even trembling, looking just as lost and without an idea of anything to do. Because what _do_ you do when war smacks you in the face like this, in the form of tens and hundreds of people all looking to you for sanity, for help? What do you tell someone who wants to help out everyone who's fallen victim to the war but can't because he's not exactly taking things better than the others? How do you handle _something like this?_ He takes a deep, deep breath, tries to collect his thoughts. Tries to string his words together until everything makes sense in his head enough that he'll have confidence to say, "Baekhyun, look at me. Hey, c'mon now– Stop panicking!"

"What do you want me to _do?_ " Baekhyun blurts out, lips trembling. His teeth are chattering. His hands are balled into fists in Kyungsoo's shirt and his arms are shaking and Kyungsoo shivers at every tiny jerk of Baekhyun’s body against his. And now _he’s_ shaking, as well. Baekhyun's laughing a little like it's the only appropriate response he can muster or maybe he's just lost all hope of making sense of everything that's been happening to him, to them. Kyungsoo feels his insides turn at that, feels his chest tighten. He curls in his toes. "D'you want me to just... sit here and watch these people, these Pokemon who need help suffer? D'you want me to just stand here and not do anything even if I know very well that I can _at least_ try to– to–"

Kyungsoo shakes his head. Breathes out into the thinning space between them but doesn't let his gaze wander. Instead, he holds Baekhyun at an arm's length and just looks him in the eye for a while before saying, "I'm not telling you to do _nothing_ about this. I mean–" He tears his gaze from Baekhyun, looking to his side, then looks around them, at the destruction, at what's left of this city. He can make out the faint silhouette of a building meters away – at least that one's still standing. The dome-like structure seems to be without any damages, as well. Probably the gym? Gyms are made to withstand even the most destructive of storms. And then there's the Pokemon Center, the only light in the city, the lone beacon of hope for trainers and Pokemon left standing after the quakes of the war. And that's where they are. So there _is_ hope. They _can_ do something to fix this, somehow. They don't have to wait here for something to happen; they _can_ make something happen. "We can't help everyone all at once. One at a time, yes, but they're too many–"

Baekhyun breathes out, long and loud. Keeps his lips hanging parted, as well, like he's preparing to say something big, but instead he mutters, "I hate organization. You know I'm shit at that." He kicks at the ground, _seethes_ when he jabs his toe a bit too hard on the hard surface, but at least his cheeks aren't shaking anymore. And the weird push and pull of a smile and a frown on his lips isn't there anymore, instead replaced with something more relaxed, natural. Sort of like he's still in limbo, giving up and giving in in equal parts, but not quite feeling the pressure kick in again. "Ugh, that panic attack–" He shakes his head, musses up his hair. Slaps his face, as well, like he isn't too red in the face already. "Sorry. It's just– This just brings back too many memories."

Kyungsoo nods, sucks in a deep breath. It neither looks nor feels like the first war yet – back then, all Kyungsoo was able to see was thick black smoke and then death and destruction sprawled all over the streets in the form of lifeless bodies, both human and Pokemon. It's close, though, enough that if he stares at the emptiness for too long then he'll start superimposing images of the past war in the setting. A blink, then he'll see raging fire not too far away. Two blinks then he'll be greeted by people wailing, clawing at his pants, pleading for help. Another, and he'll hear his brother calling out his name in the background, telling him to _duck, Kyungsoo, look out! Kyungsoo, are you alright? Hey, buddy, c'mon, stay with me–_

He shuts his eyes tight in an instant and balls his hands into fists. He curls in his fingers even more, tightening his grip until he can feel his nails digging into his skin. It hurts more than it should, but maybe it's just from all the cuts and wounds he'd incurred throughout his journey. This is it, he thinks, the reminder of where he is right now, that after the war there _can_ be peace again. They just have to try hard enough and to work with each other.

One violent breath, and the image haunts another time the same way it crept into his dreams in the past, two years ago, making him bolt up awake from his slumber, chest heaving. It makes his knees go weak now and the veins in his right hand twitch a little. Pain to counter pain, to help soften the other somehow. Pain makes people stronger. Wounds them for long periods of time, yes, but scars are a reminder of the obstacles you're able to go through. And maybe now it's time for Kyungsoo to punch through those walls instead of climbing over them in an attempt to escape. _Maybe it's time._

"Focus on the 'now'," he tells Baekhyun, then, giving Baekhyun's arms a light squeeze before dropping his hands to his sides. Two heartbeats, then he's walking forward, inching closer to where the rest of the wounded population is, torso twisted so the can look over his shoulder, _at Baekhyun._ He can hear some people asking who the hell he is, how the Center's still up and running, if this is even real. He doesn't answer, focusing instead oh his slowly stilling heartbeat, his steady pulse. He breathes out when the voices at the back of his mind finally calm down after screaming at him for a good five, ten minutes. "Okay, so we split. I’ll go around and do the preliminary checks. I still have some medicine saved from the attack in Seoul–"

“Aren’t those expired yet?” Baekhyun tries, laughing a little. Part of Kyungsoo wants to punch him in the face for hitting this hard at such a bad time; part of him wants to laugh along and say, I can always count on you to bounce back in no time. “I mean, yeah, the _godawful_ serum. Those are good. So you’ll try to treat the minor injuries or something?"

"Yeah." Kyungsoo looks at Baekhyun for a brief moment, holding up one hand to say wait, wait for a bit, then ducks back inside the Center. He makes a beeline for their room, the one at the far back, and _shit,_ who even thought it was wise to have the trainer's quarters at the very back of the establishment? His legs still feel too sore and he can feel the cuts on his skin aching in bright red patches. It almost feels as if his skin's being ripped open. Like he's being torn apart. He rummages through his things the fastest way he can, then, shuffling the unimportant things to the side – potions, extra clothes, shoes. Berries, more berries than he'll ever need, and then– "Ah, there you go." He fishes for a bag about half a foot in size, stuffed with Pokemon pills and some human medicine, as well. Then he makes his way back to the entrance, tossing something in Baekhyun's direction before rushing closer to the crowd.

"Poffins? You want me to give them _poffins?_ " Baekhyun calls out, voice cracking somewhere towards the end. "But this is Pokemon candy–"

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Gestures at people to _please_ fall in line by holding his hands up on front of him and bringing his palms closer with just three, four inches keeping them apart. He watches as people fall into these neat little columns, some quicker than most. There's still a handful of people at the sides, huddled in a corner and still talking amongst themselves, maybe still trying to make sense of what's happening, if all these things that they're seeing right now are real, if they even _are_ still alive. So he looks over his shoulder, addressing Baekhyun with a whistle. "Sweets make people happy. We need happy people right now," he tells Baekhyun, then tilts his head in the direction of the big group on the other side of the street. "They need you. Right now. _Go._ "

Baekhyun hovers for a moment, leaning in, but soon he's nodding and pulling away. He turns on his heel, marching to where the group is and starts handing out poffins to the trainers. "For your Pokemon," Kyungsoo hears him saying, like Baekhyun's reminding kids not to eat their toes or their poop or their toys. He laughs a little. There are a number of things that draw people to Baekhyun – his bright smile, his laughter, his soft and easy touch. The way he effortlessly carries positivity in his stride, shoulders pulled back and chin tilted up, like even the strongest of earthquakes can't bring him down. And that's what coaxes people to fall in line after Baekhyun hands them poffins. It's what urges them to stay there and stay put instead of roaming the city without direction, hoping to run into some source of light, a spark of hope.

"This tastes like cough medicine, but I promise you'll feel better," Kyungsoo tells one of the younger trainers he meets, crouching low as he hands her a tiny pink tablet made from one of the berry serums he and Baekhyun concocted a few months ago. It's one of the better ones, he wants to tell her, _the previous batch tasted like puke,_ but she's looking up at him with wide eyes and so much wonder – wonder, or _naivety?_ – that he finds himself choking back the rest of his sentence, swallowing the words around the thick lump in his throat. "And once you're done with that, start chewing this. This one's super yummy candy–"

"Don't believe him!" Baekhyun calls out from a few meters away, grinning. The people he's just given poffins and candy to are smiling a little, as well, talking with each other. Discovering that there are other people around them who might need more than a reassuring pat on the back so _here, have a smile. You look like you could use one._ "It'll taste _worse!_ He'll break your heart!"

I never have, Kyungsoo wants to counted, but instead he just rolls his eyes and ruffles the little girl's hair. "Drink up. Later, I'll check on you to see if you've finished your medicine, okay?"

The little girl nods, then tugs her little Bonsly close to her chest. The Bonsly isn't hurt, doesn't even have scars on its body or on any scratches of the three seeds on its head. Maybe that's why the little girl is all bruised and battered. And maybe that's why the Bonsly keeps looking up at the girl, bumping the topmost seed on its head onto the girl's chin as if asking her if she's alright.

He rests a hand on the Bonsly's head and taps a soft beat on the Pokemon's skin. His palm is littered with scars and wounds and every part of him aches, but he's positive that he can feel the Pokemon's body jerking and tensing under his touch, then relaxing soon after. "And this one's for you," he whispers, then, feeding the Pokemon a small blue block of poffin. "So you can protect your trainer is something bad happens, alright?"

The Pokemon grunts in acknowledgement and beams up at him before taking a step back. He presses on, then, walking along each column and squinting his eyes at the casualties, trying to examine them the fastest, easiest way he can. He encounters all sorts of people – young trainers, old, breeders and contest coordinators and even Pokemon chefs who once wanted to become doctors but never really had the chance to study the advanced field. That could have been him, he muses. _He_ could've been one of the hopefuls. He's always wanted to be a Pokemon doctor, after all. He just didn't want to be a carbon copy of his brother. He didn't want to be 'little Do' or 'that other Do who will also probably be successful because it flows in their blood'. He wanted to make a name for himself, something that will give him the identity and character he so deserves, not something he can inherit from carrying the family name–

"Oh my _God,_ we're finally–" Kyungsoo takes a sharp breath at the sound of the familiar voice. He furrows his eyebrows for a bit then looks up, giving his surroundings a quick scan. There's a trainer right in front of him, saying that his Grotle has a wound on its hind feet, but most of his words are muffled in the rhythm of familiar footsteps, in the curious hmm's he hears from people just over his shoulder. So he looks back, over to where Baekhyun is and the source of the voice, and leans back a little as he tries to make out the features of the people approaching him – two trainers, both wearing white coats that reach up to half their calves. One has a sling bag over his shoulder and the other one's carrying nothing but file cases that might as well contain all her hard work and her entire life. And then one of them speaks up, waves at him and flashes a big grin in his direction before Baekhyun stops them in their tracks. Don't ruin it, he wants to call out to Baekhyun, wants to lash out, but _for Christ's sake,_ this is just a reunion, not a challenge where someone has to find the other first.

"This potion should help," he tells the trainer, then, and bends his knees a little to hand him the bottle. And then he's straightening himself up again, waving at the newcomers who are a bit too busy extracting information from Baekhyun to even say 'hello'. "Glad you could make it, professor."

Professor Kwon stops mid-sentence, the syllables for _and for a minute there, I thought we were going to die but we're here and–_ spilling from the corners of her lips. Her first words are, "Have you called your brother?" Her second, "Wow, I didn't think you could get even more bruised." And then the third, unspoken but not unheard in the way she quirks up her lips, _I'm glad you're alive. It's nice to be working with you again._

"He's collecting them now, bruises," Baekhyun says after a while, pulling away from the tight hug he'd just given Minseok. Minseok doesn't seem to be bothered, though, just lets Baekhyun's arm dangle around his shoulder like they're good friends, like he isn't a gym leader and Baekhyun isn't a fresh trainer who had quite the hard time earning a badge from him. Two more beats, and then Minseok's sliding away and pulling his shoulders back, draping his gym leader jacket on his shoulder again. "Like tattoos – he treats them like tattoos," Baekhyun continues after a while. Kyungsoo inches closer to where they are, then, nudges Baekhyun in the calf with his foot and tries to add more pressure than necessary to try to make Baekhyun topple over, or at least to move him. But Baekhyun doesn't budge, doesn't flinch, doesn't even show any sign of weakness as he goes on to say, "Why am I friends with you again? You are _so weird._ "

Professor Kwon rolls her eyes. It's become her default response to banters like this, be it between him and Baekhyun or Sunyoung and Soojung. Or any exchange involving any of the four, really – they've stuck together for far too long now that they've already picked up each other's quirks, faults, knee-jerk reactions. Soojung jabs Baekhyun in the arm now when she wants to retaliate but can't find the right words for it. Sunyoung snarls at Kyungsoo's sharp retorts now instead of just rolling her eyes at him like she usually would. And Baekhyun is still Baekhyun but with a hint of Kyungsoo now in the way he enjoys late nights at the back of the Center, back pressed to the wall, fingers grazing the back of Kyungsoo's hand and drawing patterns there – clouds, a star, a heart.

"Hey Kwon, I got intel on–" comes another familiar voice, deeper than that of Minseok's, almost close to that of Chanyeol's. Kyungsoo shivers a little then digs his hands in his pockets, but makes sure to twist his elbow in Baekhyun's side before doing so. For a moment, he's distracted, caught in the web of Baekhyun's bright smile, but then Yoochun's saying, "You were right about the main entrance being in Sokcho, Kyungsoo, but we found something that _could be another entrance_ to the centralized infiltration tunnel system."

"But the camp in Sokcho's been destroyed, right?" Baekhyun asks. From a corner of Kyungsoo's eye, he catches Baekhyun scratching his nape, the side of his nose. Pursing his lips as he tries to string together his words. "I mean, I'm pretty sure the explosion happened underground because _we were there–_ "

"Mhmm, and that sealed off the entrance," Yoochun answers. The he takes a deep breath, lips still parted like he sort of wants to say something but can't. Then he's craning his neck, cocking his head in the direction of the Center before breathing out in a low exhale. "Let's go inside. I know these people here mean no harm but we can't risk talking about the operation here. There might be Rockets disguised as civilians."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows. "We... haven't seen anyone suspicious, though."

"Well, then, that's great," Yoochun answers, smiling a little. His cheeks give a tiny quiver, though, and the corners of his lips are pulled up into a tight, tight smile. Kyungsoo leans back just a bit and tilts his head to the side like it'll help him see more clearly, but there's nothing else to be read here – Yoochun's pulling up a wall between them right at this very moment, keeping a safe distance from _everyone_ and snatching the gym leader coat Minseok had draped over his shoulder, slipping it on in a blink of an eye. "But you know how the Rockets work. They will strike you _when you least expect it._ So come on, into the Center, now. I'll discuss everything when we get there."

Professor Kwon takes a deep, deep breath, shoulders lifting as she nods and ushers both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun inside. Minseok slips inside next, followed by Professor Kwon and then Yoochun who doesn't forget to wave at the residents, doesn't forget to promise them that, "We're doing the best we can to restore power. And help will arrive soon – my team is working out the details. I apologize for the inconvenience." It's a silent trip until Professor Kwon pulls Sunyoung and Soojung into the discussion, tells Nurse Jinri that this will take a while, "An hour, more or less. Here, use my Pokemon to put everyone to sleep. We need to keep the residents as calm as possible." And she shuts the door tightly behind her after that, turns up the lights on high, rests her palms on the table.

"We know where the exact location of the emergency entrance is now," Yoochun begins, pausing to clear his throat. "Pohang-si, home of one of the Rocket executives that you've already identified. _Easy._ I bet you all guessed that."

Professor Kwon laughs a little in response, but she hasn't stopped drumming her fingers on the table just yet. It makes Kyungsoo wince a little, what with the unnecessary noise, but he tries not to let it show. Instead, he presses his lips together in the same manner that Professor Kwon would if she'd been asked a really tough question. What's your favorite starter, what's your favorite Pokemon type? Who do _you_ think is the best player in the world? Trick questions, all of them. Trick questions whose answers could be simple if not for people reading too much into things, words, actions.

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, trying to reel himself back to this moment. Fatigue makes it easy to get distracted, to zone out. Maybe even to drift off. But then Yoochun hasn't said anything since the last syllable he'd dropped, and Minseok's tilting his head to the side like trying to see Yoochun from a different angle will help draw the answers out of Busan's gym leader more easily. "But the question is _where_ is the action happening, right?" Yoochun continues after a while – _finally_. "Where exactly in Korea are they controlling _everything_ from when the power went out all over the country at the same time?"

Soojung furrows her eyebrows. "It was a nationwide blackout? The news said it was just in the southern part of–" She twists her mouth to the side, then bites the inside of her cheek. "Do you mean media's being controlled by the Rockets, as well? Choosing which truths to show us and choosing which to hide from everyone?"

"Are they in Seoul?" Baekhyun asks, looking up from where he's been doodling figures on Kyungsoo's thigh. "I mean, it's the only place I can think of. It's the center of everything. KEPCo's there. The city's gym leader's probably evil, as well– It all makes sense!" He shakes his head, slumping in his seat and throwing his head back. Kyungsoo looks at him, then, careful, tentative, like if their eyes meet he'll burn up and turn into ashes. "Where else would you be controlling the entire country from–"

"The base in Seoul's been destroyed. I worked with some gym leaders on that. We shut down operations there a few months ago," Yoochun answers after a while. Then he lays something down on the table, a map littered with lines and doodles and little notes at the side. There are sticky notes with all sorts of scribbles on them – _hideout #1, hideout #2, legendary encounter in the lakes_ – and film-like papers taped together, stretching from one point of the map to another. Kyungsoo traces the path with his eyes, then, and takes note of the red dots marking certain locations on the map – Jeonju-si, the location of the first gym and the place he'd retreated to after encountering one of the legendary genies for the first time; Seoul, home of the third gym and that shady as fuck shoo selling key stones and mega evolution stones; then Pohang-si, home of the sixth gym where Kyungsoo recalls experiencing the brutal force of the time and space shift, a place where it was possible to be battling the gym leader one minute then waking up in an island miles away from shore the next. Three places far from each other, but all holding their own important memory, a different brand of magic. Three places all four of them have left traces of themselves on throughout their journey.

Kyungsoo leans closer, then, drawing a line from one red dot to another. "A triangle?" Baekhyun murmurs beside him, lips pressed to the back of Kyungsoo's ear, but Kyungsoo tries to focus on this thing, this map alone. "No, wait, it's not just a triangle. I mean it is but it's– The triangle covers all of–"

"It covers the greater area of Sobaeksan," Yoochun continues, shifting in his position to draw a line along the mountains stretching from south of Korea to the northern part of the country. He looks at Kyungsoo, then, worrying his bottom lip before adding, "Sobaeksan, where _you said_ you saw the Swords looking for Keldeo."

"The place where the first time and space shift happened," Kyungsoo whispers to himself. A traitorous cold crawls up his nape, wraps itself around his neck, and grips him tight at the same time that his insides turn. He can still remember the feeling that washed over him then, when he'd reached the peak, that inextinguishable feeling of being on top of the world, of being able to watch everyone from just one place, of knowing that anything he wants to see, wants to set his eyes on, he can at least get a glimpse of there. If he had to pick one moment in his life where he'd felt so invincible then that would be it – standing on top of Sobaeksan and seeing everything from a single point in space. "Where you get the best view of the entire country just by turning around."

"And if the legends _are_ true, that's where they'll open a blackhole, a portal to the Distortion World. That's where Team Rocket should be."

Professor Kwon stands from her seat, lips drawn to a straight, straight line. "So _this_ what we do," she begins, pausing only to clear her throat. "Minseok, go back to Chuncheon. Your city needs you. Yoochun, you stay here. Or– _Yes,_ just stay here. Give me the map. We can take it from here." Then she looks around her, eyes drawing lines from Soojung to Sunyoung to Baekhyun to Kyungsoo like they're all parts of a puzzle that she's finally beginning to connect. Kyungsoo gulps hard and shivers a little, feeling his fingers tremble as the silence drapes all over them like a cold, cold blanket. And he can feel Baekhyun's muscles shift against his own, in the tight press of their bodies and the light link of their hands behind their backs.

"The four of you are coming with me. We're going to Sobaeksan," she continues after a while, pausing to take a deep, deep breath. Then, with a nod, she lets it all out, the tension in her features replaced with a determination and a fire in her eyes that Kyungsoo hasn't seen in years, since he's seen her on television in the greatest Pokemon battle the world has ever seen.

"Tonight, we end the war."

↔

Two hours after and the storm still hasn't let up. Or what would be a storm, at least, if the weather didn't keep shifting from torrential rains to intense drought every five to ten minutes. The Korean Electric Power Corporation – KEPCo, as Professor Kwon calls it when she’s in a rush to explain things – already had restored power just before Kyungsoo and the team were about to leave for Sobaeksan so it's easier to see what's happening outside now just by looking through the window – destruction, more destruction, nothing but ruins on either side of them, and then hints of the heavy rain that once was now drying up on the ground – but it's still difficult to navigate the streets with the weather even moodier than a Jigglypuff that woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Teleporting to the peak of Sobaeksan is an option, but they'll want to preserve their Pokemon's energy as much as they can.

“These are veteran killers were dealing with," Kyungsoo recalls Baekhyun mentioning earlier, after shuffling back inside the Center and going back to helping the trainers treat their sick Pokemon. "Who actually aren't shabby battlers. They're pretty good with or without their legendary Poke–" Then Baekhyun shook his head, frowned, breathed out in a long exhale. Summoned a smile to his lips when a Bellossom walked up to him and tucked a cute little flower behind his ear without preamble. And then they'd dropped the topic altogether. Professor Kwon kept a close eye on the activity in Sobaeksan through some device Yoochun had installed in the vicinity of the mountains. Soojung helped Minseok with the remains of the ruckus outside the Center earlier, dusting off the steps to the entrance and stuffing all the trash in a plastic bag. Then Sunyoung made dinner for everyone, save for the Pokemon – that one, she'd relinquished to Kyungsoo.

And here they are now, huddled in the meeting room at the back, eyes fixed on nothing else but the scene outside, on flashes of lightning battling with flashes of _light_ beaming from some planetary body they can't even see. The sun can't be up yet – it's only close to three in the morning. Early sunrises never happen in autumn. It isn't normal for morning to come so soon in this season. Then again, they haven't been journeying through the most normal of lands for the past few months. It's foolish to expect anything normal to happen to them anymore.

"It feels like Politoed on steroids," Sunyoung comments as she pulls her knees closer to her chest. She rests her forehead on her knees, then, breathing out a long sight that turns into weird, muffled sounds. Kyungsoo looks to his left in response, reaching out to run a hand up Sunyoung's nape. He runs a thumb along the side of her neck and _there you go,_ a voice at the back of his mind says as he feels Sunyoung relax against his touch. The last time this happened was when they were eight, when she was worrying about all the money she'd saved getting stolen ("Or maybe you just misplaced it–" "Stop being an asshole, Byun!") when she was supposed to buy a present for her mother with it. She looked so listless then, lost, without any sense of what's happening in the world with the way she just stared aimlessly. And then she let her face fall forward as she hugged her knees close to her chest, started rocking herself to a small song that she sang under her breath. It is still, to date, one of the most vivid memories of Sunyoung that Kyungsoo has, one that doesn't loom over him as frequently as memories of Baekhyun do but still haunts him for days on end when the memory strikes. Hard.

"That's a really nice neck rub but I can't help but think about everything that's happening," Sunyoung mutters after a while. Or at least that's what it sounds like, what with her speech getting muffled in the way she's all curled up, curling in on herself. "I mean, it's raining hard everywhere one minute and then the sun or _whatever it is_ shines too brightly for, like, ten minutes, and then our bodies get fucked up because why the hell is the weather even acting up this way–"

"Politoed on steroids, you say?" comes Professor Kwon's voice now as she slips inside the room, bringing a tray of colas and food with her. Kyungsoo gives Sunyoung's nape a light tap, then looks to his side, at Baekhyun, when he feels a cool can being pressed to his cheek. He smiles a little. _This_ is the good push and pull of hot and cold, not the weather – oh, the sun is shining again – outside. "How about Politoed _and_ Ninetales on steroids, hmm? Didn't you mention Vulpix having a... hidden ability, Kyungsoo?"

Kyungsoo looks up from where he's pulling at the tab of his can, and raises both his eyebrows at the professor. "My Vulpix summoned intense heat the moment I sent it out, at least," he explains, then scratches the slope of his neck with a finger. He can see Baekhyun following the motion with his gaze, can see Baekhyun darting out his pink tongue as he licks a stray droplet from the mouth of the can. _Focus, Kyungsoo, focus._ "Can't remember when, but I haven't been using it that much."

"Yeah, I remember that. It's more noticeable when you're practicing at night. It's like Vulpix has it's own sun or something– Oh god, that sounds like a Pokemon love story or something–" Baekhyun snorts, cackles. Laughs as he shakes his head, then ends with a breathy sigh. Kyungsoo only rolls his eyes in response, throws his head back as he relishes the feeling of the cool liquid going down his throat. All of a sudden the heat from outside isn't so daunting anymore, like, for a moment, just a blink of a moment during the standstill in this war, everything seems right.

Another blink and a jerk of the body, then Baekhyun's nudging him in his side, an eyebrow cocked at him as if asking, so where did you go again? He doesn't say that, though. Instead, he says, "You might want to evolve your Growlithe, by the way. Didn't you promise it something nice after one of those battles?"

Kyungsoo leans back a little, shivering when he feels the stick slide of his skin against the surface of the back rest. "After the battle in Gangneung, yes," he answers after a while, nodding. He hasn’t forgotten; Growlithe just hasn't express much interest in it after all the chaos that has happened, even if at first it seemed so eager to evolve to become stronger for its trainer, _for him._ If Growlithe ever emerges from its Pokeball again and hands him the Fire Stone then sure, by all means, he'll let Growlithe evolve. He hates forcing things on people, on his friends, and even on his Pokemon. He's pretty darn sure Growlithe feels the same. "Maybe later. I don't want to crush anything in here when Growlithe grows ten times in size."

"Just thrice," Soojung says, curt and sharp. The corners of her lips are tugged up in a small smile. "Brush up on your facts, Do."

Kyungsoo snorts. Starts chuckling when the weird, tickling sensation in his throat becomes too overwhelming that he has to cough it out, revealing a peal of laughter. Sunyoung looks up from her little cocoon, cocking her eyebrow for a quick second before rolling her eyes. Kyungsoo catches the light upward tug on her cheeks, the smile reaching her eyes. And then he breathes out all at once. "Never was the brightest in the class," he confesses, then, and that's when Baekhyun loses it, leaning to his side, on Kyungsoo, crashing there until he starts slapping Kyungsoo on the thigh, until he's burying his face in Kyungsoo's chest and Kyungsoo can feel Baekhyun's loud, bright laughter thumping against his skin.

He's never been the best at resisting Baekhyun for too long, either. He's never been good at that at all.

Opposite him, Professor Kwon rolls her eyes and shakes her head. She laughs at them and says in a faint, faint voice, "Maybe it's better if you get some sleep first. You’re all being weirder than the usual already. Then we can tackle Sobaeksan first thing tomorrow morning.” She finishes with a hum then sinks in her seat, throwing her head back.

From where Kyungsoo is, even with some of Baekhyun's hair clinging to his face and the column of his neck, _tickling him,_ he can see the fatigue in Professor Kwon's features. She's smiling but her cheeks are drooping low. Her eyes are weakening. And her lips are trembling. It's almost as if she's thankful for the storm outside, the push and pull of the weather. So Kyungsoo says, "You should get some rest, too, professor. It's... It's going to be a big day tomorrow, if the weather gets better."

Professor Kwon snorts. She pokes one eye open, aimed at nothing, no one else but Kyungsoo. It almost makes his insides jump. "You're exactly like your brother sometimes," she says, voice barely above a whisper, and then she's breathing out a long and loud exhale. It makes Kyungsoo shiver a little, stirs his senses just enough to make him aware of what's happening around him – Baekhyun shifting in his position so he can rest his head on Kyungsoo's lap, Baekhyun looking up at him through half-lidded eyes and mouthing words at him that he can't make sense of right now. All he knows is that his face feels too hot and that there's no escaping from this – the mission to save the world and save a bit of his heart from Baekhyun's charming, _disarming_ smile. "Off to bed with you kids, come on! _Go, go–_ "

So quarter past three in the morning finds Kyungsoo and Baekhyun lying on the same bed, backs flat on the cushion and eyes fixed on the ceiling looming over them. Kyungsoo can hear the rain pouring outside. It's the same song he's been listening to for the past fifteen minutes, ever since Baekhyun had slipped into his bed and whispered in his ear, "My bed's too cold. Can I... share a bed with you?" Maybe in a minute the weather will change again, but at the rate this is going they'll be getting rains the whole night, up until they have to head to Sobaeksan. It's better than having to prepare for both the intense heat and the cold. It's better than not knowing what lies ahead.

"I can't sleep," Baekhyun confesses. He shifts in his position for a while, moving his arms about, then he's rolling over until he's lying flat on his stomach. Half of him lands on the cushion, the other half on Kyungsoo. And half of Kyungsoo's mind is too fuzzy to put two and two together but then his body has always been better at sensing things – Baekhyun's thumping heartbeat against his own, Baekhyun's pulse loud and fast where Baekhyun has both palms flat on his chest. The heat of Baekhyun's body pressed to his in this awkward fit of their limbs – Baekhyun hovering him, his bare leg sliding against Kyungsoo's own, Baekhyun's eyes hot and heavy where they're fixed on the gentle swell of his mouth.

Kyungsoo hums. Sucks in his bottom lip more for lack of anything better to say than to tease. "Can't, either," he whispers, smiling a little, then breathes out in a low, long exhale. "The girls are pretty lucky, I guess."

“Lucky if they can actually get any rest, you mean."

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows a little. “Aren’t they asleep–"

The heavy downpour quiets down after a while, draping a thick layer of silence all over them. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks Baekhyun's going to fall asleep on top of him like this, that he'll wake up with a dull ache in every part of his body that Baekhyun has touched and with drool on his shirt, but _no –_ Baekhyun's caging in on him now, getting up on all fours, studying his face like it's the most interesting piece of research ever. And Baekhyun hates researching, hates having to leaf through tens and thousands of pages if he can learn them through experience, anyway. "Yeah, they are," Baekhyun says after a while, then leans in, close enough that Kyungsoo can smell a hint of smoke and sweat in Baekhyun's hair. "I checked."

Kyungsoo laughs a little. "You planned this?" he asks, _means to ask,_ but then Baekhyun's slipping his hands beneath his shirt, fingers trembling as he pushes Kyungsoo's shirt up, up, _up._ He shivers at the first touch, at the first graze of Baekhyun's cold fingers against his skin, and he gasps. He tries to choke it down, pressing the back of his hand to his mouth, but soon Baekhyun's leaning in, meeting him in a light press of the lips. And then the standstill – they wait there, trying to figure out where to put their hands, how to tilt their heads, how to _breathe each other in_. Trying to decide whether to push or to pull or pull even closer, until Kyungsoo licks his own lips open and throws his head back, letting Baekhyun in. Baekhyun doesn't move yet, just leans closer until Kyungsoo can feel the tug of Baekhyun's grin on his skin, until Kyungsoo slides his hands around Baekhyun's waist then snakes them up Baekhyun's back, dragging Baekhyun's shirt along the warmth of Baekhyun's skin. Commence the choreography they've been rehearsing for so long but never seem to get right – Kyungsoo opens his mouth _just so_ , inching closer to capture Baekhyun's bottom lip between his teeth and suck hard on it. Baekhyun lets out a faint whimper, melts into the gentle tug, so Kyungsoo repeats it – light sucks on the lips, on the underside of Baekhyun's jaw. Gentle licks to coax Baekhyun's mouth open, to hear more of Baekhyun's soft, breathy whispers and gasps. Baekhyun bucks his hips when Kyungsoo drops one hand to cup Baekhyun's ass, and then Baekhyun's half groaning, half laughing in the slide of their mouths.

"Didn't think you'd be a groper," Baekhyun murmurs, not parting, instead chasing after Kyungsoo's lips like he's left some of his words there. "Or that you'd be–"

"So good?" Kyungsoo asks, _croaks out_ when Baekhyun begins to assault the corners of his mouth with soft, feather-light kisses.

"Mhmm. Sort of," Baekhyun whispers, and then he's licking at the seam of Kyungsoo's mouth, coaxing Kyungsoo's lips open. Murmuring between quick breaths and licks, “–and yeah, I–planned it, sort of planned–but can't control weather–"

It's weird to be thinking of anything at all with Baekhyun's lips on his, Kyungsoo muses, with Baekhyun pushing his shirt further up until it bunches on his neck, with Baekhyun pulling his own shirt over his head and reaching for Kyungsoo's own so he can place their clothes nearby, just in case they have to get up and get dressed for their mission, just in case they won't get another _later._ And part of him wonders about the situation in Sobaeksan, in Chuncheon-si, heck, even just outside the trainer's quarters, if he's being weird and silly and _selfish_ by indulging in this while the rest of the world is swallowed in shadows. But then he might not have this moment again. In a few hours, they'll wake up to Professor Kwon's call, to the uncertainty of emerging from the war alive and in one piece. In a few hours– They might not even have a few more hours. Team Rocket can choose to attack at any time. The legendary Pokemon, under the care of the Rockets, can be more merciless than ever. Giratina can tear the world apart and suck it into its own world, the Distortion World, in a blink of an eye. And all he'll be left with are ideas, wishes, _dreams,_ memories he once tried to forget but are now scouring the surface of water for.

Baekhyun stops. Leans back for a second, wisps of his breath leaving puffs of white in the air. It leaves Kyungsoo shivering, a bit too cold, seething at the gaping lack of warmth in the distance between him and Baekhyun on a cool autumn night. It leaves him oddly bereft, _yearning._ And they might wake Sunyoung and Soojung up anytime now. Baekhyun's looking at him with the most focused gaze he's has seen in _years_ and _damn_ if he says 'no' to this. They're ten years and then some in the making. They've tried to rewrite their bitter pasts and rectified their wrongs in the present. So shouldn't this be right, somehow? Shouldn't it be just right for Kyungsoo to settle his hands on Baekhyun's hips, for him to guide Baekhyun close, close, _closer_ until all that separates them is a hitch of the breath, a tremble of their fingers on each other's skin?

"We–" Baekhyun shifts his gaze for a moment, looking out the window, at the floor, at Sunyoung and Soojung's sleeping figures not too far away. Kyungsoo's stomach lurches. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to. I mean–" He shakes his head, laughs, breathes out a huge sigh in the space between them. And his voice shakes. Kyungsoo's close enough that he can take in the hiccups in Baekhyun's breathing, close enough that he can _feel_ the stutter in Baekhyun's speech in the press of their bodies. "I mean we're _in the middle of a war_ and the Rockets might attack anytime and _Professor Kwon might walk in on us–_ "

"And we're making out beside our friends," Kyungsoo adds, humming. Baekhyun rolls his eyes in response, jabs him in his chest, then splays his fingers there, tracing light doodles on Kyungsoo's skin. His breath hitches. "You forg– _Baekhyun–_ You forgot that part–"

"And we're _making out right beside our sleeping friends–_ " Baekhyun says, then, complying, leaning in until he can ghost his lips over Kyungsoo's skin, his exposed chest. He just hovers, though, doesn't leave marks or plant kisses or even blow hot air on Kyungsoo's skin yet. It feels like torture, Kyungsoo muses, knowing Baekhyun's lips are just a breath, a decision away, but Baekhyun's asking him a question and Baekhyun's asking him for _words._ Baekhyun's giving him a choice, a free pass to tap out of this arrangement if he so decides that he's not ready for this yet. And Baekhyun keeps staring at him, watching him through the slits of his bangs, tapping a lazy beat on his skin like a morse code for _so, what's it gonna be?_ "And there's nothing wrong about that _at all_ but if it bothers you then maybe, maybe later–"

"Now," Kyungsoo whispers, the syllables tumbling from his lips faster than he can think. He blinks once, twice, thrice, and the look on Baekhyun's features hasn't changed – his eyes are wide open and his lips are parted into a small 'o' and the corners of his lips are tugging in the biggest craziest smile. And there are still three inches between them–

–and the next thing Kyungsoo knows, Baekhyun's hands are everywhere. Cupping his cheeks, sculpting the shape of his body, tangled in his hair as Baekhyun sucks on his bottom lip, on his tongue, on that small dip in his collarbones. He shivers at every touch, bucks his hips and grinds against Baekhyun at every heated brush of their limbs. And he'd keep kissing Baekhyun if he could but Baekhyun slides south, sucking on the skin just below his collarbones, hands busy with sneaking down to the waistband of his sweatpants, pushing them down. "Okay?" Baekhyun asks, pausing to look up at Kyungsoo, to seek confirmation, and Kyungsoo nods in response, shuts his eyes tight, threads his fingers through Baekhyun's messy curls.

Baekhyun takes time to explore, to _tease,_ pushing Kyungsoo's pants down inch by inch, sucking marks down Kyungsoo's torso, the dip of his pelvis, the inside of his thigh. Kyungsoo tries to keep still, tries his best not to buck his hips into Baekhyun's warm mouth or to grind too much, tries to take control of his body, but soon Baekhyun's mouthing at his tenting erection through the material of his underwear and _shit–_ Kyungsoo gasps, body arching at the first contact of skin on skin, at the brush of Baekhyun's warm lips on his cock. This feels nothing like his own hands that one time when he tried to get off to the image of this cute girl in Sunyoung's class. It feels _nothing_ like the way Baekhyun had kissed him earlier, in the basement, and pushed him down on the floor only to wrestle laughter out of him much later. And Baekhyun's mouth around his cock feels like _nothing_ he's ever imagined, the rough skin of Baekhyun's lips melding with the heat of the cavern of his mouth and the long, searching licks along his shaft. Every part of him that Baekhyun has touched burns with an ache that he won’t dare put out. And he _shakes_ when Baekhyun sucks on his cock long and hard, coupled with the easy jerks of his hand and _oh–_ "Fuck,” he gasps out, balling his fingers into tight fists in Baekhyun's hair.

Then Baekhyun pulls away with an easy smile, the corners of his mouth slick with spit, lips swollen. His cheeks are flushed pink and he's looking at Kyungsoo with the laziest gaze, but part of him still seems to be in control of everything else. It's there, Kyungsoo muses, in the way Baekhyun leans back, sliding away and leaving Kyungsoo too cold, too exposed. It's in the way he cages in on Kyungsoo with his hands on either side of him, in the way he marvels at Kyungsoo's body with a trickling gaze and cold fingers sliding from the dip of Kyungsoo's chest down to his belly button. Kyungsoo licks his lips, then, leans forward, props himself against his arms. Then with a deep breath, with shaking hands, he gives the band of Baekhyun's pants a gentle tug. "May I?"

Baekhyun gulps down hard, Adam's Apple bobbing in the column of his neck. Kyungsoo reaches up, then, and brushes away stray strands that have stuck to Baekhyun's forehead before pressing a soft kiss there, then to the tip of Baekhyun's nose, the gentle swell of Baekhyun's mouth, Baekhyun's chest. And then he's running his hands down the dip of Baekhyun's pelvis, hooking his thumbs on the band of Baekhyun's pants as he sculpts the length of Baekhyun's thighs, his calves, the slim knobs of his ankles. And then it's all skin on skin, Baekhyun pressing down on him and meeting his lips in a kiss, sucking on his top lip, the sides of his mouth. Leaving a sharp sting when Baekhyun bites a bit too hard on his lip as he runs a thumb along the length of Baekhyun's cock. Then Baekhyun's licking a stripe along the shell of his ear, trying, trying really hard not to stutter, to not give himself away until he wraps his fingers around Baekhyun's cock one by one. Baekhyun takes a deep, shaky breath at the first touch, body twitching at the first long jerk. Curses under his breath with his lips pressed to Kyungsoo's ear as Kyungsoo works him up in an easy rhythm, in slow and torturous jerks that leave Baekhyun asking for more.

"Fucking tease," Baekhyun whispers, chokes out after a while before crushing their lips together again. Kyungsoo can taste the blood on Baekhyun’s lips, can feel every jerk of Baekhyun’s body when he licks along the bruised parts of Baekhyun’s lips. Then Baekhyun's bucking into his touch, rolling his hips against the motion of Kyungsoo's fists.

"Easy," Kyungsoo says, voice just tipping over to a whisper, and laughs. He tilts his head a little, pressing his lips to Baekhyun's shut eyes. "Nobody's ringing the alarm yet."

"Fuck the alarm," Baekhyun groans, lips quivering when Kyungsoo tightens his hold on Baekhyun's cock _just a little._ Kyungsoo can feel Baekhyun twitching in his grip, can feel his own pulse in the tight press of his palm to Baekhyun's skin. And he can feel a sizzle of heat roll down his abdomen, wrapping around his still hard dick rubbing against Baekhyun's knee. Baekhyun leans back a little, after a while, slowing down, catching his breath. Pounding on his chest with one hand in an attempt to knock air back in his lungs and gripping the sheets tight with the other as he whispers, "Kyungsoo, _please–_ "

Please don't stop, please hold on a little longer, please let this moment last – please _what,_ Kyungsoo wants to ask, but everything blurs in the warmth of Baekhyun's mouth, in the sticky slide of their limbs when Baekhyun rocks his hips once, twice, thrice, as if in invitation. Kyungsoo nods in understanding, then, sucking two fingers between his lips, coating them with saliva. He shakes a little, shivers when Baekhyun rubs his knee against his inner thigh, just a few inches shy of his cock. _Dammit,_ he wants to say, wants to tell Baekhyun to be patient, to _wait_ , but then they've been waiting for this for ten years. And a decade is a long, long time for two people who have always known how they felt for each other but are just too chicken, too weak to admit it to themselves.

He slides one hand up Baekhyun's thigh, giving his ass a light squeeze before pressing one slick finger in Baekhyun's entrance. Baekhyun seethes in an instant, scowls at the intrusion when Kyungsoo slides his finger inside, inch by inch until his knuckles are digging into Baekhyun's skin, carving shallow grooves there. Then Baekhyun clenches around his finger, clamps on his digit even before he can start pumping in easy, rhythmic thrusts. So he soothes a hand up Baekhyun's thigh again, peppers Baekhyun's shoulders, the slope of his neck, parts of Baekhyun that he can reach with his lips, with feather-light kisses and sucks. Works a slow rhythm with the way he pumps his lone finger in Baekhyun, until Baekhyun's slowly relaxing into the touch, getting accustomed to the sensation, asking for another finger, a second digit, _more._ Kyungsoo slips one more finger in, then, twisting his hand a bit until Baekhyun's burying his face in the crook of Kyungsoo's neck the best that he can, until Baekhyun's panting but still muttering under his breath, "Just fucking get on with it already–"

"Easy,” Kyungsoo whispers again, then crushes their lips together this time as he plunges a third finger inside. Baekhyun's eyes blow wide open at the first push, at the slide of a new finger inside him, and lets his face fall forward onto Kyungsoo's shoulders. He bites down on the exposed skin as if exacting revenge for something he'd asked for, licking warm marks on Kyungsoo’s shoulder for every long and hard thrust that Kyungsoo makes with his fingers. Each jerk, each motion feels like an exploration of Baekhyun's body, of Baekhyun's boundaries, _of his limits,_ a test to see if he can hold out longer than he should and if Baekhyun can stay with him through this, holding back before giving in when their bodies finally crash into each other.

When Baekhyun stops rocking his hips, Kyungsoo presses a fourth finger on Baekhyun's rim. He looks up at him for quick second, pressing a soft kiss to Baekhyun’s cheeks before blowing at the hair sticking to Baekhyun’s skin. Then he asks, "Alright?"

Baekhyun nods – with a grunt, with the buck of his hips, with the way he exhales Kyungsoo's name on Kyungsoo's skin, warm mouth pressed to the slope of Kyungsoo's neck. So Kyungsoo complies, slips one last finger in Baekhyun, inch by inch until Baekhyun's gasping out, groaning where he has his lips pressed to Kyungsoo's forehead, until Kyungsoo feels his knuckles digging into Baekhyun's skin. "And then after–" Baekhyun begins, teeth chattering but the corners of his lips still pulled up into the silliest smile, but he never gets to finish. Instead, he shuts his eyes tight as Kyungsoo twists his fingers inside him, keeps his palms pressed on either side of Kyungsoo, bracketing him, telling him to go faster, harder, "You might as well be prepping me 'til the next millennium at the rate we're going–"

"We have time," Kyungsoo whispers, leaning in to press a kiss to the tip of Baekhyun's nose.

"I know–" Baekhyun's breath hitches, catches on that last syllable as Kyungsoo crooks his fingers inside Baekhyun. He can feel Baekhyun clamping all around his skin and _fuck,_ the burn stings, but it feels good somehow, knowing that Baekhyun's _here,_ at this very moment, promising to stay. "But I want you _right now–_ "

Kyungsoo pulls out his fingers, slow and torturous, then grips Baekhyun tight by the ass to pull him closer. "Alright," he breathes out, manages to say just before Baekhyun brings their mouths together again in an inelegant slide, before Baekhyun wraps his hand around Kyungsoo's cock to give it a few pumps. He bites down hard on his lips, trying not to make any sound, but the sheets beneath them are rustling and maybe Sunyoung and Soojung can hear them just a few feet away and– _Now, now, now._ Baekhyun pulls away after a while, hand slick with precome, and breathes out in a long and loud exhale. His hands feel warm and sticky on Kyungsoo’s thighs and Kyungsoo can _feel_ Baekhyun's thundering pulse on his skin, drumming the same beat as that of the racing in his chest.

"Now," he whispers, and gulps down hard.

Baekhyun leans in to press a kiss on his chest, left and center, then smiles.

Two beats, then Baekhyun's sinking himself in the length of Kyungsoo's cock in a slow, careful push. Kyungsoo gulps hard at the sensation, at the burn on his thighs when their limbs slide against each other. The first thrust _fucking stings,_ feels like his skin's being ripped from the rest of his body, but then Baekhyun's warmth makes the pain more bearable. Slowly, they rock their hips, Baekhyun grinding down on him to meet him as he thrusts even harder. He can feel Baekhyun's thighs shaking, can feel Baekhyun's muscles tensing all around him, can feel Baekhyun raking his nails up his chest until Baekhyun presses palms down where his heart beats the strongest. So he rests his hand atop Baekhyun's own, tries to rub circles on the back of Baekhyun's hand as Baekhyun's lips part open in tiny whimpers. He keeps up the rhythm when Baekhyun opens his eyes to look at him through the slits of his bangs, when Baekhyun reaches over with a shaky hand and traces the curve of his lip with a stroke of a finger. It’s as if Baekhyun’s trying to memorize him again, like all the years they’ve spent walking alongside each other are not enough to prepare neither of them for this – Baekhyun throwing his head back when Kyungsoo hits a particular spot and grinds even harder, Baekhyun digging his nails into Kyungsoo’s skin in an attempt to keep himself from breathing out more than a gasp, a choked moan. Kyungsoo reaching out to wrap his fingers around Baekhyun’s cock another time, dragging his thumb along the underside and keeping his eyes on Baekhyun, committing to memory every twist of the lips, every quirk of Baekhyun’s face, every soft ‘ah’ that spills from Baekhyun’s lips and the way Baekhyun looks at him through half-lidded eyes. The way Baekhyun urges him to go on with the softest of smiles, neither a sign of victory nor surrender. They’re playing on the same side of the field now, hand-in-hand, heart to heart.

Baekhyun comes first, caught mid-laughter and mid-sentence as he whispers Kyungsoo's name like a prayer, his release steaming down Kyungsoo's abdomen. And then Kyungsoo's breathing out Baekhyun's name in a low, low groan, spilling inside Baekhyun like that's what does it for him – Baekhyun looking at him and nobody else, Baekhyun smiling _for him,_ the two of them agreeing to choosing to stay like this, to remain in _this moment,_ a messy tangle of limbs and laughter.

"I can die now," Baekhyun says later, draping one arm across Kyungsoo's waist. They're gross and sticky all over and it's closer to four in the morning now than three but Kyungsoo makes no effort to shrug Baekhyun off, instead pressing a kiss to the crown of Baekhyun's hair, his forehead, the tip of his nose as he pinches Baekhyun's cheek.

"No, _later,_ " he whispers in response, smiling. Baekhyun breaks out into the brightest grin and pinches him in his side in thoughtless retaliation. He doesn’t fight back.

↔

"You asked, right?" Baekhyun mumbles out of the blue, then skates his fingers up Kyungsoo's warm chest. "Why... Why I can't just stay in one place? Why I keep... running away?"

Kyungsoo blinks a few times before tucking his chin, trying to shrug off the slivers of fatigue that are pulling down at his eyelids and fast lulling him to sleep. He's pretty certain it's almost time for them to get up in time for the war, that he's only half awake now, half of his body crushed beneath Baekhyun's weight and the other half feeling strangely light, but there's something about the look in Baekhyun's eyes when Baekhyun meets him with a steady gaze that jolts him out of his lethargy. There's something in the way Baekhyun tilts his head up and doesn't stop tapping a beat on his chest until he's roused from his momentary slumber to give a low grunt in response that gets the gears of his mind functioning the way it should again, at the height of the war, even with the thick cloak of darkness draped over them and Sunyoung and Soojung's fitful snores breaking the silence every so often. And there's something in the way Baekhyun juts out his bottom lip, worries it for the quickest moment and then breathes out a low exhale that makes Kyungsoo's insides turn a little. He hasn't seen Baekhyun wear this look often, enough for him to identify it from a mile away, but from the tremble of Baekhyun's fingers on his skin he can tell that Baekhyun's nervous, maybe even scared. And hopeful, if the way Baekhyun's eyes glimmer in the darkness is anything to go by. So when Baekhyun groans, asks him again, "You _did_ ask me why I kept running away before, right? Why I kept breaking my promises and–"

"Kept being an awful friend and asshole, all around," Kyungsoo whispers in response, breathing out against Baekhyun's forehead. When he sees Baekhyun twisting his mouth and pursing his lips, he laughs a little. "Yeah, I remember. I'm the worst at forgetting things."

Baekhyun snorts. "Nah, I don't think so. That would be me," he mumbles. He pushes himself off of Kyungsoo, tries to get up on his hands or at least prop himself against his arms, but Kyungsoo's quick to snake his arms around Baekhyun's waist to pull him back down. " _Relax,_ I'm not going away. I'm just trying–" He shifts in his position, splaying his fingers on Kyungsoo's chest and tapping a beat there when Kyungsoo hiccups at the sudden brush of Baekhyun's rough lips against his nipple. He chuckles. Kyungsoo isn't sure if he wants to pinch Baekhyun in his side or pull him all the way up for a kiss. "– _not_ trying to go for another round but I want to see you better–"

"I can hear you loud and clear," Kyungsoo says, then runs a hand up the curve of Baekhyun's back. Baekhyun keeps moving, just the same, up, up, _up_ until he can feel Baekhyun's leg drawing a warm line along the sides of his thighs, making him shiver all over. Never the one to be tied down without putting up a fight, a voice at the back of his mind says as he narrows his eyes at Baekhyun. Baekhyun only responds by sticking out his tongue and pressing a kiss to Kyungsoo's chest. Some things never change. "Now _talk._ "

"Well, I–" Baekhyun sucks in his bottom lip again, then breathes out in a huff. "I guess you could say I have a bit of a problem when it comes to people leaving me?"

Kyungsoo snorts. Funny you should say that when you're the one who's been fleeing at the first opportunity, he wants to say, but he knows better than to push Baekhyun away _now_ that they've stayed at the same place long enough to hear each other out. They're not kids who'd resort to giving each other playful punches on the cheek and expect time and laughter to heal all the wounds of their little brawl anymore. They're older now, more experienced, wiser. They shouldn't be falling prey to the allure of old mistakes; it's just stupid. So he hums, rubs slow circles on Baekhyun's warm skin as he widens his eyes. Part of him wants to see Baekhyun better, but more than anything else he just wants Baekhyun to know that he's _here,_ listening, without any intent to curl in on himself and shun people away.

"I know it sounds really weird because, hey–" Baekhyun laughs a little, snorts, crinkles his nose in that ugly look that Kyungsoo finds a bit endearing sometimes. Only sometimes, and in the dark where he can feel the vibrations of Baekhyun's light laughter on his skin. "Wasn't I the one who left first _and_ without letting you guys know beforehand–"

"Not the time to be blaming yourself anymore," Kyungsoo mumbles. He nudges Baekhyun's forehead with his cheek, then ghosts his lips over Baekhyun's skin. "I thought we're past that already."

Baekhyun widens his eyes for a quick second, then breathes out in a steady stream of warm breath. The corners of his lips ease into a small smile. "Yeah, right. We're– We're done with that shit now." A loud gulp, then, "There's... I actually met these two... friends – _friends?_ – back in Sokcho? Yeah. They were new to the place, as well. Looked just as lost as I was so I thought I'd befriend them and we clicked! Became good friends, all that shit, you know the drill, and–" He laughs, shakes his head, then presses his cheek to Kyungsoo's chest. "And, well, everything went downhill from there."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He keeps his gaze on Baekhyun, studying the way Baekhyun nips on his bottom lip again and starts tapping a pattern on Kyungsoo's chest. It's faster this time, and the pads of Baekhyun's fingers are cold enough to make Kyungsoo shiver all over. They're cold enough to make his breath hitch but not quite enough to numb Baekhyun completely and keep Baekhyun from scrawling on his skin everything but the continuation of the story. Still, Kyungsoo keeps his eyes on Baekhyun, hoping Bakehyun would tear his gaze from the darkness enveloping them, hoping Baekhyun would look up at him once and for all.

Just beyond the windows, Kyungsoo watches the flicker of lightning in the distance, gets a glimpse of the warm light from outside spilling onto Baekhyun's features and catching on Baekhyun's skin before lights go out again. And he feels the weight of the heels of Baekhyun's palms digging into his skin, marking a dull ache on his chest as Baekhyun looks up. "It's all in the past, I promise. I mean, if I was still hung up on _them_ then I won't be here. So it's really... the experience that shook me up really badly? Of course they're important, but _you get what I mean._ Sometimes it's the shock of the experiences that.. hits you harder," Baekhyun says after a while, pausing only to purse his lips, "But yeah, these two friends– They... we really had a great connection? All three of us? I guess it was that weird... sense of being lost and trying to build a home again that brought us together? I mean _sure,_ I've been there for three weeks already and they just got to the place and I was technically, I dunno, sort of a local already, but I still felt... lost. Sort of. So we naturally stuck with each other, I guess. Han-hyung and Yixing-hyung stuck with each other more but _eh,_ I didn't care. I _finally found friends._ It was the best day of my life. Best few months, even, because–" Baekhyun laughs a little. "Remember that time when we actually pretended to _not_ remember that it was Sunyoungie's birthday?"

Kyungsoo snorts. "Your idea, not mine," he mutters, and Baekhyun retorts with a light bite on his chest. " _Ow–_ Yeah, yeah, I remember. Did the other two play the same prank on you?"

"Nah. That was me and Han-hyung. Except Han-hyung couldn't keep himself from laughing when Yixing-hyung said that he almost forgot his own birthday because he was too busy with school and– _Yeah,_ " Baekhyun replies. There are still bubbles of laughter spilling from his lips, but they're lighter now, a bit more subdued. Sort of like the waves have calmed down and he's become tired of chasing them deeper into the sea _and then_ having to rush back to shore even before the waves can wash over him in a powerful tide. Kyungsoo can feel his insides turning again; it isn't from the weather shifting another time just beyond the windows, he's certain. "That birthday of Sunyoungie's, that was one of the best days of my life. We couldn't stop laughing then. You looked weird laughing non-stop and Sunyoung just kept hitting me on the arm and I didn't... mind? Because back then– I dunno, maybe I just felt that I was where I was supposed to be? Maybe I felt like moving from Changyu to Sinyuk after just a year of being there was actually _okay?_ I mean it's just, like, a quick boat ride or a swim away but maybe I just felt like– like–"

"Like staying?" Kyungsoo asks, breathing out at the drop of the last syllable. He licks his lips, biting down on his bottom lip as he ends, then breathes back in. He can feel Baekhyun's quickening pulse where Baekhyun has his palms pressing down on his chest, and if the sun would shine a bit brighter, just a bit brighter, then _maybe_ he'll see Baekhyun's lips trembling– "Was that how you felt when you met your... two other boys?"

Baekhyun laughs a little, sounding a bit scratchy somewhere along the way, and presses a soft kiss where his lips touch Kyungsoo's skin, but he doesn't reply yet. Doesn't even make a sound for the next few seconds, until the weather outside shifts _another time,_ rain pouring down hard on the solid ground once more. " _Lu Han_ and _Zhang Yixing,_ not 'my two other boys'," Baekhyun murmurs at first, then looks up to meet Kyungsoo in the eye again. His lips are curled up into a tiny smile at the corners, but what steals Kyungsoo's attention, what makes his breath hitch, is the way Baekhyun softens his eyes and just rests his chin on Kyungsoo's chest like Baekhyun has already given up on trying not to give himself away. "But... yeah. It... almost felt – _only almost, okay,_ don't hit me or anything – like... leaving Sinyuk was..."

"–the right decision," Kyungsoo finishes.

"–wasn't so bad," Baekhyun continues after a while, ending with a hum. He sticks his tongue out at Kyungsoo not too long after then breathes out, the heavy thumping in his chest steadying into something less alarming and his fingers on Kyungsoo's skin thawing out little by little. "I'll _never_ not want to go back to Sinyuk. I mean, it's _home._ Sure, I had lots of fun memories with the two in the... six, eight months that I spent with them – yeah, in all those months that I spent with them – but it's still different? You know what I mean, right? You wake up every morning looking forward to having the prettiest view of the sunrise and you can smell fish in the air all the fucking time and we never run out of fish and there's nothing but Magikarp all around and–"

Baekhyun breathes out in a huff, then presses his lips together into a tight, tight line that Kyungsoo isn't sure he can pry open with the gentle coax of his thumbs pressing down on the corners of Baekhyun's lips. So he waits – for Baekhyun to catch his breath in time for him to find his words again, for Baekhyun to swim back up to the surface of the water. For Baekhyun to laugh a little, smile a little, and ease the way he's digging his nails into Kyungsoo's skin so Kyungsoo can stop twitching every few seconds because every part of him _stings._

"– and you're home," Baekhyun finishes, voice cracking somewhere along the way. "You _know_ you're home, not... rooming with someone else somewhere far away or something. It's different, knowing there's one place you can just _keep going back to_ and expect someone to welcome you with open arms or something." He sniffles after a while, then brushes the underside of his nose against the joints of his fingers again. "I almost wanted stay there. In Sokcho, I mean. It was a nice place, until–" And then he's chuckling, shaking his head, breathing out in a long sigh before burying his face in Kyungsoo's chest for a quick second, only to resurface with laughter still bubbling on his lips. "They actually both ended up having to go to China to pick up their trainer licenses. Found it funny until I realized they were moving back to China in two weeks and _yeah,_ it was... tough, to say the least. So they went back, left me in Sokcho, pursued their dreams while the League here implemented that stupid twenty-years-old starting age thing. They didn't return until– Man, I don't even know anymore. I just know they visited a few times but I was too busy trying to have a life and trying not to get too emotional over two people who'd left me coming back after five years or something and sort of feeling _distant_ because we're were in... two entirely different life stages already. It's just– It's _ridiculous,_ okay. It's so silly. It's stupid because good friendships are supposed to _last_ and not wither or something _just because of some stupid age and distance thing–_ "

He can feel the shift of Baekhyun's muscles again, can feel Baekhyun's body giving a light jerk where they're pressed so close together. And he can feel Baekhyun leaning his head on his chest, the pulse in Baekhyun's temples drumming a light beat on his skin. He can fill in the words for himself, can mutter, _and everything sucks,_ even before Baekhyun can say the same, but this isn't his story to tell. So he remains silent, only snaking his hand up Baekhyun's back to curl his fingers on the base of Baekhyun's nape as a quiet way of saying, _go on._

"I was _scared_ of having to go through the same thing again," Baekhyun breathes out after a while, syllables tumbling from the corners of his lips in a garble of words. He clears his throat, looks up through the slits oh his bangs, but drops his gaze back to the expanse of Kyungsoo's skin and doodles random figures on it as he tries to gather his words again. "I'd understand, y'know, if you wanted to push me away for good, if Sunyoung got really mad because all of my fuck ups because _no good friend makes promises and breaks them again and again._ I mean, I _know_ I deserve it. It'll hurt, sure, but I don't have a choice but to accept that because karma hits like a bitch and–"

"And I'm still here," Kyungsoo whispers now, then leans in just a little until he feels his lips making contact with Baekhyun's skin. He can feel his lips trembling, can feel his insides turning because this _isn't_ a situation he's rehearsed in his mind at least a hundred times. That would be battles or maybe ways to catch Pokemon better or even techniques on how to scout for other trainers' battling techniques even if the match has just begun, not reassuring Baekhyun that he won't be going anywhere, or telling Baekhyun that if Baekhyun even lost his 'home' then _please know there will always be a tiny cavity in my chest kept empty just for you._ But he knows the path to Baekhyun well enough to trust himself to reach his goal even by only feeling blindly around him. So he runs his thumb along the side of Baekhyun's neck, rubbing there until Baekhyun's relaxing into the touch and letting out a soft mewl in accord. Then he laughs a little, hums, and presses a soft kiss to Baekhyun's forehead. Nothing that last more than a few seconds, but he still earns a a soft chuckle from Baekhyun at that, an arm draped across his waist, cool fingers on his skin where Baekhyun's drawing figures again.

"Sunyoung's still here," he says after a while, "And she doesn't hate you. Hasn't even thought of killing you _even once,_ which is a miracle, but–" He breathes out against Baekhyun's hair, making Baekhyun shiver all over. Kind of like they've been thrown off-balance for a second only to come back with a better feel of the surface they're standing on – compact sand, not rushing waters. "She's still here. If she wanted to leave you a long time ago then she would have. Trust me, it would have been easier for her to look away but she stayed." He takes a deep breath, then, holding the air in his chest for a quick second before letting it all out in a steady stream of warm breath against Baekhyun's forehead. This time, Baekhyn doesn't close his eyes as he gives a full-bodied shiver in response, doesn't even let his gaze flicker for the quickest of seconds. Instead, Baekhyun holds his gaze, bottom lip caught between his teeth and the expression on his features caught in a weird twist of a smile and a wicked grin. All of a sudden, it feels like ten years ago again, except they're no longer afraid of the waves rushing to where they are, chasing them away. They're not afraid of crashing against _and_ into each other anymore, not afraid of falling flat on the sand in a messy tangle of limbs. If anything, Kyungsoo can feel energy coursing through his veins, keeping him awake and out of the pit of lethargy he'd almost fallen into earlier.

"And _I'm_ still here," he whispers, leaning back just a little to try to see Baekhyun better. Outside, the weather seems to have changed again, casting a much brighter glow on Baekhyun, on the thinning space between them, on the collision of their bodies that feels strangely like a nice fit. "After all the shit you've pulled up on me, I'm still here. So honestly, if you're trying to push someone away then you'll have to try harder, Byun. We're here to stay, whether you like it or not. _We're here to stay, forever._ "

Baekhyun widens his eyes, lips parted _just a little,_ as if a breath's been startled out of him. Then he's furrowing his eyebrows, sort of like he's stuck in thought, or toeing the line between saying, _so you really want me to find a way to push you away for good, huh?_ , and _I don't know why you'd even stick with someone like me but thank you, I guess?_ Baekhyun says none of these, though, instead sucking in his bottom lip again, twisting his mouth to the side, then shaking his head. He pushes himself up, all the way until Kyungsoo can feel the tips of their noses touch, can feel the slide of their legs and the way Baekhyun's cock brushes against his skin. And Baekhyun's kissing him. It's become a filler for the words he can't figure out just yet, or the things he can't say, so Kyungsoo drinks it all up, licks along the cavern of Baekhyun's mouth, grazes his tongue at the back of Baekhyun's teeth, pulling away only when he hears, _feels_ Baekhyun murmuring something against the slide of their mouths, when he feels Baekhyun twitching just a little in the fit of their bodies.

"Bad, _bad_ decision," Baekhyun mumbles, the leans back in to catch Kyungsoo's bottom lip between his own and give it a light suck. "And we should probably be sleeping now and–"

And we should probably just let things happen, Kyungsoo muses at the back of his mind, but that's not something that words can best communicate. That's not something he's had a lot of practice saying out loud. So he lets his hands, his limbs, his lips do the talking, snaking an arm around Baekhyun's waist to pull him closer, deeper into the kiss, and just loses himself in the promises written in the inelegant slide of their mouths, in the weather calming just beyond the window for a few sacred minutes, in the minutes they still spend alive, breathing out, and breathing each other in.

↔

Five in the morning, sharp, Professor Kwon walks into the trainer's quarters and flicks on the lights. She does her rounds, tapping them on the the shoulder, the calves, parts of them she can reach, one by one and wraps her fingers around Baekhyun's wrist when Baekhyun almost topples over when he rolls to his side. Kyungsoo rouses at that, then, when he feels the rough slide of their limbs, when he feels Baekhyun muffled grunts pressed to his chest and feels Baekhyun elbow him on his chin when Baekhyun stretches out. When he hears Professor Kwon's voice, steady as a rock and cold as ice, as she says, "Okay, up, up with all of you! We leave for Sobaeksan in ten minutes. I'll meet everyone in the lobby in ten, alright? _Don't make me wait._ "

His body gives a tiny jerk, then he's opening his eyes in earnest. Two more beats and then his senses start working, kicking into overdrive when he realizes two things – one, it's a minute past five in the morning and they only have nine minutes left; and two, they're still both naked from head to toe beneath the sheets. For a minute, he's worried that Sunyoung and Soojung will catch on, but then the two are still rubbing their eyes and falling back into bed as they grumble, "You two go ahead. Shower together. Be safe."

He slaps Baekhyun in the ass and that's what wakes Baekhyun up, what makes Baekhyun stand from where he has his limbs draped all over Kyungsoo. "What the hell?" Baekhyun groans in response, furrowing his eyebrows. "It's fucking _five in the morning_ and–" It doesn't kick in until a few more seconds – seven, Kyungsoo's been counting – the situation they're in, the fit of their bodies, and the faint 'oh' that slips from Sunyoung's lips before she turns to look the other way.

"Shower, now," Kyungsoo mumbles, then yanks Baekhyun forward by the wrist. And for the first time in years, they walk hand in hand to the bathroom, a longass blanket draped all over them like capes of superheroes except they're saving each other from humiliation and not saving the world. Not yet.

They emerge from the showers just five minutes later, barely refreshed from the bath but ten times cleaner than they'd been the night before. Kyungsoo's limbs still ache all over and the marks Baekhyun had sucked on his skin still burn a bright red, but for the most part he feels like a new person, like he hadn't witnessed the way Busan-si crumbled before his eyes, like they hadn't combed the streets for people who still need help and to whom they can provide temporary shelter. Baekhyun's looking better, as well, eyelids still heavy with sleep but the corners of his lips tugged up in a smile that tells Kyungsoo Baekhyun's _more than awake now._ So he keeps his back turned to Baekhyun as he slips on his underwear, pulls up his pants, as he puts on a comfortable shirt then wears the black jacket he'd used at the start of his journey, when he had to go through rough deserts by foot just to get to the next city and earn his badge.

"Shy?"

He furrows his eyebrows. They made out and fucked each other in the presence of their friends last night, woke up in each other's arms and were seen by Professor Kwon draped all over each other, and he has the gall to be shy? Can't be the case. _Shouldn't_ be the case, he muses as he tucks his shirt in his pants, then pulls out a portion of his shirt before evening out the creases. So he answers, "no," looking to his side, at Baekhyun, for the quickest second, before fixing his eyes on his shoes again just to see if he'd tied the laces right. "Why, are you?"

"Nah," Baekhyun replies, laughing a little. He slides closer to Kyungsoo, hands still busy with drying his hair, and only then does Kyungsoo catch the sight of Baekhyun's bare chest, the marks he'd left there last night trailing a path down his abdomen, ending just above the band of Baekhyun's towel. And only then does he realize that Baekhyun’s might not be clothed from the torso down, that the towel wrapped around Baekhyun's waist, accentuating the dip of Baekhyun's pelvis, does very little to keep him in check and remind him of the things he shouldn’t be doing to Baekhyun at this very minute. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to reach other to touch, to hold, to back Baekhyun against a wall, but then _mission,_ a voice at the back of his mind says. They have a mission to fulfil in ten minutes. There are legendary Pokemon to go up against and try to defeat in an attempt to stop Team Rocket from spreading more evil. They have a world to save. They can't just lose control over their limbs now. "Maybe a little nervous, but–"

"You, nervous?" Kyungsoo snorts, rolls his eyes. Tears his eyes from Baekhyun, as well, but he remains watching Baekhyun out of the corner of his eye. Baekhyun's nervous, alright, he muses as he sees Baekhyun worrying his bottom lip, dropping his hands to his sides and leaving his hair in a tangled mess. Kyungsoo breathes out a little when he sees Baekhyun's putting on a shirt once and for all, but not for long. Soon, Baekhyun’s undoing the knot of the towel before letting it drop to the floor to reveal his sculpted thighs. Kyungsoo gulps down hard, presses his fingers to his throat as he tries to breathe in deep. There's a mark there, too, he notes, when Baekhyun bends over, one of those marks he'd sucked on Baekhyun's skin before easing Baekhyun down on him, making sure that Baekhyun's more than ready to take his cock in one slide–

"Doesn't look like it," he mutters faster than he can put on his socks. He sits on the small chair just beside the bed, then, slipping on his rubber shoes and tying the laces in two big loops. His hands shake, fingers trembling as he shoots one end of the loop through another to form a nice, snug knot. And he waits for Baekhyun's response, Baekhyun's bright laughter, a hint of surprise in his voice as he teases Kyungsoo about finally showing concern, admitting that he cares, but it never comes. Instead, Baekhyun just kind of stands there, staring at him with his head tilted to the side, decked in tattered jeans, a shirt two sizes too big for him, and a look Kyungsoo is pretty certain he wouldn’t want to see Baekhyun wear again on his features.

"You alright?" Kyungsoo asks, reaching out with his foot to nudge Baekhyun in the ankle. Soft laughter blooms on Baekhyun's lips, then, pulls the corners of his mouth up, up, up until they're spilling over to his cheeks, the corners of his eyes, lighting up the rest of his features. "Don't do that. You look weird when you–"

"This is it, huh?" Baekhyun whispers, shoulders falling forward as he exhales. Then his chest does this tiny hiccupping thing like he's taking quick breaths, breathing out into the space between them like he's trying to push Kyungsoo away with every exhale. "We're going to war again and–"

And there's no telling if they'll walk out of it alive. There's no telling if they'll even get to Sobaeksan in one piece. Team Rocket must have laid down all sorts of traps to keep them from getting to the mountains. Kyungsoo _would_ if he was the one fighting everyone off and trying to conquer the world. And there's no telling what will happen _if_ they do live to see another day. Kyungsoo can see it, the many 'what if's' dangling from Baekhyun's lips in the way he parts them just so, in the way he holds his breath right there, just before he fills his chest with air. What if one of them gets killed in the crossfire? What if they both survive but get separated? What if they both live but don't remember what happened before end of the war? It happens sometimes, things like those – you live long enough to see your happily ever after only to find out that there are more obstacles to face just beyond that thin veil of finality, that the story isn't over yet.

So Kyungsoo presses his lips together in a thin line. Inches closer but looks around for an audience before leaning in, before taking another breath with his lips hovering Baekhyun's own. Baekhyun's lips fall open in response, almost like stimulus, and that's when Kyungsoo whispers, "Yeah, this is it." Then he tilts his head, meeting Baekhyun's lips in a kiss, so soft, chaste. Done in haste. He can feel Baekhyun slowly parting his lips and if he gives into this they'll be stuck in this room for another five minutes–

And they don't have that leisure. Sunyoung and Soojung will be stepping out of the showers any minute now and Professor Kwon will be looking for them. So Kyungsoo pulls away, presses his palms to Baekhyun's chest when Baekhyun attempts to lean even closer. "Later," he whispers, the presses a finger to Baekhyun's lips. Baekhyun licks a tiny stripe along Kyungsoo's finger, then, sucks on it a little before jutting out his bottom lip in a frown. Kyungsoo gulps hard, trying not to shiver. "Battle now, kiss later."

Baekhyun hovers for a moment, still wearing that pout, then pinches him in his side. "I hate it when you make sense,” he groans. Still, he rests a hand on the small of Kyungsoo's back as they slip out of the room, slings an arm over Kyungsoo's shoulder as they wait for the other two to join them in the lobby. He taps a beat on the jut of Kyungsoo's bone like a code for the things _he_ can't say and the words Kyungsoo doesn't have time to decipher at the moment. And they stay like that, the fit of their bodies tight and snug, until the sound of crashing rings in their ears again and the ground begins to shake.

Kyungsoo shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. _This is it,_ he thinks. It’s now or never.

The trip to Sobaeksan takes a little over ten minutes from the Pokemon Center in Busan-si. It would have taken less if the rains hadn't been pouring down hard, but then, "Weather's not letting up, probably won't anytime soon. We can't wait anymore," Professor Kwon had said earlier as she ushered them inside an aircraft the size of fifteen, twenty Snorlaxes. "But at least the four of you are well-rested now." She led them deeper into the ship, into a meeting room that looked a lot like the place where Kyungsoo'd received his Treecko. Then Minseok and Yoochun were emerging from two different compartments, Minseok bearing food and Yoochun with all these scrolls in his arms.

"Turns out the rain's not from a league of angry Politoeds on steroids," Yoochun'd said as he spread the scrolls on the table, holding down the corners with pebbles. "And your intense sunlight's not from Ninetales, either. But _yes,_ the extreme weather _is_ the product of two Pokemon losing control over their power. Or two Pokemon experiencing a new kind of power that's been forced upon them. It can be either of the two." Then Yoochun'd scratched the slope of his neck like he was searching for words, a better way to explain things. The easiest way to dissect the matter at hand without getting too deep into the details of the legends and in the shortest possible time. "Not sure if you remember homework for Pokemon History but... Kyogre and Groudon–"

"The weather gods. From the... the harvesting song? Legend? Do you remember them?" Minseok moved closer then, dragging his seat forward. Then he cleared his throat, placed his hand on his chest before reciting, " _In these driest moments, in these darkest times, we lift up our hands to you, guardians of the earth, and implore your powers divine–_ " 

" _Do keep our waters running fast and the sun shining in glee,_ " Yoochun continued. " _Do keep these winds blowing loud and strong but still tame and not as wild as the sea. Do keep our harvest safe from all the tempest and the storm, but most of all keep our lands rich and bountiful to keep us, people, going strong._ "

"These gifts we offer to you, oh guardians of the weathers that be. Please hear your humble worker's plea," Kyungsoo whispers now as they inch closer to the foot of the mountain, as he ganders at the sight right in front of him. There are red pillars all around the mountains, each three, four meters apart, all of them glowing in the brightest shade of red. There's a thin veil shielding the mountains from the rest of the world in a sheet of green, blue, and red, separating space into two different dimensions – one plagued with a sick mix of intense rain and heat and the other still as the ocean, steady as a rock. And there's a looming portal hanging above the mountains, ripping through the veil, drawing everything in sight in its direction. "These are from the Lake Trio, aren't they?" he asks, then, looking at Professor Kwon just a few feet away. "These red pillars – they're made of the red crystals from the Trio, right?"

"We're not picking up the same brand of power from the crystals so it _might_ not be from any of the Trio, Uxie, Mesprit, or Azelf, but they serve the same purpose," Professor Kwon explains. "That is, to contain power within a vessel – in this case, Sobaeksan. These mountains have so many levels within them that you can store a thousand, maybe even tens and thousands of Pokemon in it. The thing is, _what exactly_ are these... pillars trying to control, to contain? We've pinned down the cause of the weather interruptions – that's Kyogre and Groudon – but they're not appearing on the map. We know what's causing the time and space shifts – that's Dialga and Palkia. Again, _not on fucking map map._ "

"If all four of them are here, then we're doomed," Soojung says, curt and blunt. She's biting the inside of her cheek, though, furrowing her eyebrows a little like she's trying to find a hole, a crack, an opening in the force field. Kyungsoo tries to follow her gaze, then, to try to help out, but to no avail – the shield is thick, impenetrable, a force too strong that he won’t even want to come near it. Like if he tried so much as to drop a single strand of hair onto it, he'll see that lone strand burning the brightest flame he's ever witnessed. "But that might also come in handy. If they're in one place then we can target them all at the same time. Makes it easier to combat the legendaries instead of having to _roam the fucking country_ just to find them all."

"But you can't just control these god Pokemon with the… Pokemon we have," Baekhyun mutters. He inches closer to the shield then crouches, picking up a stone about half the size of his palm. For a moment, Kyungsoo thinks of wrapping his fingers around Baekhyun's wrist, thinks of holding Baekhyun back because he's going to do that thing again where he _acts_ before he _thinks,_ but too late – Baekhyun's already attempting to wedge the stone in the shield, hacking at the thick barrier with a rock and trying to carve a hold with its sharp edge. Kyungsoo holds his breath, then – as he watches Baekhyun try to poke a crack into the barrier, as he sees something getting sucked into that black hole out of the corner of his eye, as Baekhyun stutters back in his steps and scowls when he lands on his ass.

"Okay, that obviously didn't work," Baekhyun grumbles, then pushes himself off the ground. Minseok extends a hand in his direction to help him get up, but then the earth starts shaking again, starts moving beneath their feet without preamble and pinning them to the ground with the force of its movement. " _Aaaand_ obviously, the legendaries didn't like that one bit!"

Professor Kwon inches closer, looking up at the black hole before craning her neck to look around them again. "We can try attacking with our Pokemon, but i don't want to risk it. We'll need to conserve all our energy–" She reaches for one of the scrolls in Yoochun's hands, straightening up the rolled paper by tugging at the opposite sides hard, then scans the paper for clues. But there's _nothing_ of use there, Kyungsoo wants to say when he sees nothing but a sketch of the mountain, a drawing on brown paper that looks as if it's seen better days before getting buried deep in the ground–

Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows a little and turns to look in Professor Kwon's direction. "What if we dug a tunnel to Sobaeksan?" he asks, breathing out in a huff and licking his lips before he continues. "I mean, Team Rocket _did_ dig tunnels underground so they can move from one place to another unnoticed, right? And from the looks of it, the barrier's not sealed from top to bottom. Look–" He tilts his head up, fixing his gaze on the black hole. It's drawn a couple of papers to it now, some of them disappearing behind that thick black hole and some of them dropping inside, rolling down the walls of the mountains, landing on the ground. The sheets stay there, lifeless, in the vacuum that is the other side of the barrier. "We have two options – either we fly over that black hole and try to slip through that gap–" He points at it, gesturing at the narrow space between the top of the mountain and the base of the hole. It isn't that big – not enough for one big Snorlax to pass through – but it's enough for one person to slip into. Then maybe from the inside they shatter the barrier or at least try to thin it. Ease the black hole into nothingness to stop the violent winds whipping around the area. " _Or_ we can try digging a tunnel leading inside. To the other side, I mean. Because unless we take that black hole down, there's no safe way to get through."

“We could teleport if any of us has been on the other side, but–" Professow Kwon breathes out a heavy sigh, shoulders falling forward as she does. “It probably isn’t the safest thing to do, what with all the time and space shifts. I wouldn’t want any of you to run into the risk of getting your bodies spliced."

"Or we can force our way inside," Minseok offers. "That tiny stone created a tiny dent on the barrier, _look–_ "

Kyungsoo cranes his neck, trying to look over the huddled figures of the other members of the team. It's almost impossible to see, that sliver of a crack, so he squints until he can make out the slight distortion of the image on the other side. _There it is,_ he muses as he inches even closer. Now, if they can just concentrate power onto that single crack so they can start chipping on the forcefield then–

"Better yet," Sunyoung says now, clearing her throat as she steps away from the huddle. She summons two of her Pokemon – a Pyroar and a Lucario – and tells them to stand back for a second, stay away from the barrier. _Listen to mommy._ Kyungsoo still recalls Lucario from their days back in Sinyuk-ri, when it was still a Riolu and was deathly afraid of Baekhyun's hugs and fist bumps.

"If I didn't keep doing that to _your Pokemon,_ then it wouldn't have been able to learn Close Combat so early," Kyungsoo recalls Baekhyun saying, recalls Baekhyun sticking out his tongue at Sunyoung before holding up his arms in defense when they were much younger.

"It would have learned it _the normal way!_ " Sunyoung'd said right back. And then she'd used her own Close Combat against him, landing light jabs onto Baekhyun's arm one after another.

"We can try attacking from the surface and from underground,” Sunyoung says now, giving everyone a quick look. She turns to her Pokemon for a moment, gesturing for Lucario to move to her left, then telling Pyroar to stay on her right. "If you have a Pokemon that knows Hyper Voice, send 'em out now – we'll need them. Hyper Voice _should_ be able to pass through barriers. Every hit matters." Kyungsoo feels for Gardevoir's Pokeball in his belt pack, then, and sends out his Pokemon. Baekhyun follows suit, sending out his Altaria. Minseok summons his Aurorus, towering over both Gardevoir and Altaria who have gathered close to Pyroar on Sunyoung's right. "Okay. Now, we'll station our Pokemon at different points and attack _simultaneously._ It'll work even if we let them fire off the attacks on their own but if we attack the barrier at the same time then there's a better chance for us to bring down the whole thing all at once."

"Because if one side cracks before the other then we risk having an imbalance again," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, nodding in thought. He shivers a little – at the winds kicking up, at the sand sticking to his ankles and his calves and the back of his knees. At the way the energy _crackles_ in the air like a warning, like a voice telling them to stay away while they still can. A few feet away, he can see Professor Kwon nodding, can see her taking a Pokeball or two from deep in her pocket and tossing them in the air. But no one has _ever_ seen Professor Kwon summon a Pokemon from a capsule in a lifetime, a voice at the back of his mind says, _she hasn't battled out in the open in years,_ and yet here she is now, sending out a Pokemon of her own to help with breaking down the barriers. She's no Pokemon professor anymore, no researcher who wouldn't come within ten feet of a Pokemon battle. And Yoochun and Minseok aren't gym leaders serving only their cities; they are here to help. They may come from different places, towns, cities, provinces, but they're all trainers here hoping to save their country, trainers who are coming together to concentrate the force of five, six Hyper Voice attacks onto a barrier in the hope of breaking it down into smithereens.

This is it, Korea. We're your best bet against this evil group, Kyungsoo wants to say, but the winds are too strong and the shaking of the ground has come to hit them in full force again. And Pyroar's growling just beside him, grimacing in pain as it tries to brace the power of the earthquake weakening. So he bottles it up insides, instead taking a deep breath and swallowing around the thick lump in his throat. He grips Gardevoir by the wrist tight before offering his Pokemon a small smile.

Gardevoir laughs at him a little, tilting its head to the side as if to say, _I can't believe this is freaking you out. You've got me, everyone in this team. Do you really think we'll screw up?_ Then Gardevoir's fixing its gaze back on the barrier before them, its entire body glowing a bright pink.

"Later," Kyungsoo whisper to Gardevoir, shaking his head. Later, they'll unleash their full potential. Later, he'll link with Gardevoir and coax his Pokemon to go through mega evolution one more time, _one last time._ Later, they'll make history happen.

For now, Kyungsoo muses as he cracks his knuckles, as Professor Kwon assembles the Pokemon at different points and calls out, "Ready!", they'll work together to bring down the barriers. And they'll meet on the other side, primed for victory, ready to battle.

"In three, two, and– _Fire!_ "

The countdown to the end of the war starts now.


	8. make a wish

The thing about burrowing deep into the ground that he hates more than anything else is the feeling of everything _closing in on you_ without any chance of survival. Excadrill powers through the ground in one hit, piercing through layers upon layers of soil within seconds. Thirty seconds in and there's a comfortable enough hole to fit in, big enough for two people to walk through. The very next second, Kyungsoo slips inside, tries to navigate his way through the darkness using only the sound of Excadrill digging through the earth as his guide. He keeps his palms pressed to the walls around him, then, drags them along the rough surface even if it feels like raking his hands against sharp rocks and rubble. It helps remind him that he's still here, underground, not floating in limbo. It helps lift the tension in his muscles a little, keeps his senses hypersensitive that every shift of the ground makes his heart jump in his chest. And it helps remind him that he's _not alone_ in this fight, that there are six other people waiting for him on the surface, on the other side of the barrier.

He takes inhales, deep and sharp, breathing through his nose. It smells like damp soil and debris all around him but at least he can still breathe. He can hear the distant sound of Soojung's voice, can hear her saying something about chipping at the edges of the hole so that more air can come in and, "Claydol, try to smoothen the surface with Psychic!" He could be imagining things, though. It would be easy with the darkness clouding in on him like this, pounding at the back of his mind like stones crashing down on him but– "Okay, Claydol, keep at it! Keep going!"

Two beats, then he feels the surge of air passing through the tunnel. Even Excadrill feels it, stopping for a second in its tracks before drilling through the earth again. So he drinks it up, breathes in deep, presses on and keeps his palms flat on the surface as he walks every steep curve, every downward slope, every turn that Excadrill digs. Repeats at the back of his mind like a mantra, _we'll get through this. We will get through this. Just a little more–_

And then the world goes white. White as in a blinding light, not just some thin sheet draped over his eyes and left forgotten there. They can't be close to the surface yet – he can't hear the sounds he'd heard on the other side earlier, not yet – but there's an opening here, a portal they can slip into if they wanted to. Excadrill keeps digging until the light becomes more unbearable, until Kyungsoo feels the back of his eyelids burn and his eyebrows ache and the pulse in his temples throb in quick, hurried beats–

Then they stop. Excadrill climbs onto a flat surface and extends its hands in Kyungsoo's direction, sheathing the blades along its arms and grabbing him by the sleeves of his shirt with its real hands. Then he looks around him, at the veil dropping to the ground to reveal a cave, a lake in the middle, silhouettes ghosting the rippled reflections on the water. Droplets of water falling to the ground with every shake, every tremor, with every shift of the plates – or is it dimensions? – with every low cry that resonates in the cave, bouncing off the walls of the place and making Kyungsoo shiver all over.

He gulps hard. Only a few seconds in and it already feels like he's not supposed to be here, like he's treading some sacred ground whose sanctity he's already tarnishing just existing in this place. Nine, ten seconds in and the ground's moving again like it means to kick him out of the cave, push him back up the tunnel Excadrill had been digging for the past twenty or so minutes and–

Dust comes filtering down from the ceiling at the next quake, sticking to the bridge of his nose like powder. He inches away from the cliff they'd come from and looks around another time, craning his neck and squinting to see better. He blows at his nose, then, because _hell,_ that smells like shit that's been kept in hiding for too long. The silhouettes look familiar, sort of like he'd seen them _exactly like this_ in a book or a drawing or maybe on television. On a poster, maybe, or a dream? He can't tell yet. He tries to scour his mind for clues, then, and inches farther away from the edge until he sees three Pokemon floating in the air, connected through the link of their tails all adorned with a single red gem in the middle. He looks up, stands on the tips of his toes, and that's when he sees it – small red orbs resting just north of the Pokemon's eyes, wisps of red gathering at the center of the triangle, the slivers of light coming together to form all these tiny red particles that hang suspended in the air. A black band with a single red crystal in the middle wound around each Pokemon's neck, holding it up even if the rest of its body looks as if it's been drained of energy and life.

"The Lake Trio?" he whispers under his breath, then looks around him. There are no marks of a Rocket hideout here, not on the cave's walls, but the black band wrapped around the legendary trio's necks, _the same device_ he's seen Chanyeol and that other Rocket use to control their legendary Pokemon, is enough proof that he's successfully broken in Team Rocket's biggest and most well-kept secret. But then Minseok said all the members of the Trio were safe in their respective lakes back in Gangwon-do. He can still recall that confident look in Minseok's features, the way Minseok assured them that, "I've got that covered. The Lake Trio is safe back in Chuncheon. We shouldn't run into any problems anymore." But even Professor Kwon and Yoochun confirmed that the Swords are guarding the Trio more closely now and that nothing bad can happen to them even if Team Rocket tried to poach them one more time. But _it doesn't make sense,_ Kyungsoo wants to say, to scream out, but what gives? Nobody but Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit will hear him here. And he'll attract nothing but Team Rocket's atention if he does decide to lash out, scream at the top his lungs, punch a rock or a wall or even the crystals forming at the center of the triangle the Trio is forming–

 _Mirage Pokemon,_ he whispers to himself. _One of them has to be a mirage Pokemon._ He's heard about those in the news in the past, long before the war took place and before Team Rocker first struck fear upon people. It was the result of a successful experiment in Japan where one scientist tried to replicate Pokemon by taking a fraction of their DNA then running them by a machine – not specified. Just a machine where you could 'project', not exactly duplicate, a Pokemon, a machine where you can use the power the Pokemon has lent you but not keep it for an extended period of time. Seungsoo always believed that whatever the technology the Japanese were using at that time, it was doubling as a time machine. Kyungsoo... didn't know what to believe in. He was only six or seven then. The most complicated thing he had to deal with was trying to make Oran berries work with Sitrus berries to come up with a delicious berry serum for one of Seungsoo's Pokemon.

"But they came from the Pokeballs," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath. It means they've been captured, controlled, somehow. Tamed by a trainer. They can’t just be Pokemon you can chuck your own capsule at to poach. He can still recall Yura summoning the Heatran from a normal Pokeball, one almost everyone uses, can still remember Chanyeol and Jongdae who both summoned the legendary beasts through these red Pokeballs that glimmered even in the darkness. So maybe Team Rocket kept the Pokemon in their lair and set free the projections, the _mirage Pokemon_ in the hope that they would act around other Pokemon the way a legendary Pokemon normally would. Stupid move, he almost snorts. Pokemon senses are far more sensitive than human ones. But hey – Team Rocket _did_ fool humans into thinking that everything was alright. And maybe that's the plan. Maybe _that_ is the goal they have always been working towards – to turn the current reality into a mirage and reconstruct the world in such a way that they will be able to control _everything_ with a snap of the finger.

He takes a deep breath, then, reaching up to touch one of the lake guardians, testing if these Pokemon are real, if they're not just projections or images of Pokemon that exist elsewhere, in a completely different place. The first contact stings, burns the tips of his fingers. Almost makes him seethe and jerk back to fall flat on his ass on the ground. The second graze of his skin against the legendary Pokemon’s body shoots a sharp pain up his arm, curls around his nape in a tight, vicious grip. He coughs out, chokes, tries to pound at his chest to ease the tension, tries to keep himself from falling to the ground at the force of the contact, but he can't move his arms. He can't even feel his fingers when he tries to wiggle them, when he tries to splay them on the floor, when he tries to press his palms down on the ground so he can regain balance and control over his limbs. And he doesn't even feel the force of the crash even when he sees his elbows brush against the rocks–

Azelf opens its eyes, yellow orbs shining beneath the blue film that once covered its sight. Then Mesprit follows suit, poking one eye open first and looking straight at Azelf once it refocuses its vision. Uxie's eyes remain closed, but its disentangling its tail from the other two, lifting its little arms up as it twirls in place. And then they're pulling apart one by one, their tails coming off from the knot they'd been looped in at the same time that the shards forming in the middle of the triangle fall to the ground in a shrill tinkering sound. Kyungsoo holds his breath, looks around him just to check for any movement, any sound, any sign of Team Rocket suddenly launching an attack on _them._ He gets nothing but silence in response. And a slow, cool creeping sensation pooling at the base of his nape when he breathes out.

 _I found the Lake Trio. In the cave. Right here,_ he repeats in his mind, again and again in the hope that the message will reach Gardevoir. It's easier when they're within ten meters of each other, much, much easier when one of them knows where the other is, but he trusts all the years they've spent training alongside each other to get the message across. He trusts all these years wound around their wrists to keep the link strong even with all the space between them.

The three pixies hover, then lean closer to touch the tips of their tails on Kyungsoo's forehead like they're checking if _he's_ real or if he's one of the Rockets. There it is again, the sting of the touch, the burning sensation crawling from his forehead to the throbbing pulse in his temples _and then_ crawling all the way down to his nape to make him shiver. He tries to focus on the message, though, shuts his eyes to drown out the light filtering from outside. To his Excadrill, he tries to say, start digging back up. Dig a hole for the others to get through. Holds out his hand to feel for Excadrill’s own to give it a light squeeze before whispering, "Go."

Excadrill grunts, then pulls away the very next second. There's the sound of blades sliding against each other, sharpening, and then pounding on the walls. And then there's silence again, thicker this time as the tinkering sound from the falling crystals has stopped ringing in his hears. He's getting closer to… some great source of power, he can feel it, can _sense_ it in the memories he's shared with Gardevoir flashing before his eyes – getting first place in a swimming competition that wasn't really a competition because Baekhyun and Sunyoung both sucked at swimming whenever they competed alongside him. Picking tangerines with Soojung that summer when he was in Jeju-do. The boat he's riding with Seungsoo almost tipping over at the rush of a powerful wave but Ralts bursting out of its Pokeball to help steady the boat and the waves. Seungsoo's Slacking pulling them to shore and hugging them tight like it was so scared it would lose the only family it had after the big wave hit the island. It feels a lot like linking with Gardevoir through mega evolution, except he isn’t getting that awful ripping sensation like his insides are being clawed out. It feels a bit more… comforting, but just as familiar. It feels a bit like home.

He takes a deep breath now and balls his hands into fists. A bit more, just a bit more. He can see Joonmyun handing him the badge now, can see the look on Baekhyun's face when they'd passed each other after Kyungsoo's battle. Can feel Baekhyun's warm palm on his skin as Baekhyun gave his arm a gentle squeeze before promising, "I'll do better." If he squints his eyes hard enough, he'll be able to see up until last night, sitting beside Gardevoir after helping out the crowd and leaning his head on his Pokemon's shoulder. "This weird coming from me," he recalls himself saying them, voice barely above a whisper, "but if the world ever ends tomorrow then please know–"

Gardevoir punched him on the cheek then, just a light jab packing enough power that Kyungsoo can still feel a dull ache where Gardevoir had tried to knock some sense back into him. So he touches that warm spot on his cheek, presses his fingers to it as he repeats in his mind, one more time, louder than the previous, _I found the Lake Trio. Follow the tunnel and you'll find me–_

The gem in his ring glows. _That’s it,_ he says to himself as he hears Gardevoir’s voice at the back of his mind. But _no,_ not yet, it's not yet the right time to mega evolve, but this is Gardevoir's decision. They both know the repercussions of mega evolving, the strain it will cause on Gardevoir once the Pokemon has reverted to its original form. Yet the stone in the ring keeps glowing brighter, stronger. Sort of like Gardevoir isn't giving him a choice because _you know this is what we need right now. Stop holding back._ So he nods, takes a deep breath, then presses his two fingers to the surface of the gem on the ring. Heat bubbles on the tips of his fingers then blooms as it crawls all the way up to his joints, his knuckles, his wrist. That’s when the familiar ripping sensation sets in, washes over him like all those times when Gardevoir tried to mega evolve. It feels like Gardevoir's taking a piece of him to fuse with its new form to be stronger, wiser, more capable. To make it a hero just like its owner, its most fateful companion. He takes a deep breath as the last dregs of heat leave his body, turning his fingers cold for the briefest of seconds before he feels his hands again.

And then he breathes – not a long and deep inhale or a shaky exhale, but _breathes_ like he normally would, when he's out in the open and not trapped inside a cave with three legendary Pokemon examining him like he's some interesting piece of specimen. Uxie isn't hovering anymore, though, rejoining its fellow pixies a few feet away, but Kyungsoo can see them staring. And he can the pink-bodied pixie – Mesprit, if he remembers correctly – lifting its tails and pointing them in Kyungsoo's direction, to his chest, drawing a line all the way up until it settles on the ring he's wearing on his right hand.

His first thought is, I didn't steal this. His second, Chanyeol probably did, and now they want the key stone back. And then Mesprit's drawing the tip of its tail to the gem on its forehead, tapping it thrice, each hit three seconds apart. He holds his breath in anticipation, then, feeling the pulse at the base of his throat grow stronger, faster. The thumping in his chest grows louder. He doesn't notice until seconds after that he's balled his hands into fists and that his hands are shaking. For a moment, he considers it being the product of those tiny quakes, the jerks of the ground shaking him up, but everything is still and quiet. He can't even hear Excadrill powering through the solid ground as fast as it can to create a path for the others to go through. And the only thing that's out of place is the blinding light, the weird push and pull of warmth and the cold on his skin, the feeling of his limbs being tugged in several different directions before he _feels_ his body crash to the ground, the sharp rocks slicing tiny wounds on his skin–

"Kyungsoo?"

He furrows his eyebrows a little, shuts his eyes, takes a deep breath. Weird, he muses – he's the only one in the cave. Maybe the voices in his head have finally escaped the deepest tresses of his mind and are now running amok, bouncing off the walls of the closed space. He shakes his head, then, trying to refocus, to regain control over his senses, before he remembers that there are _rocks all around him_ and that he'll only end up wounding himself all the more with what he's doing. But then there it is again, someone, _a number of people_ calling his name, distinct voices calling out to him in varying volumes. A time and space shift yet again, part of him muses, but soon figures loom over him, shadows crowding in on him and shielding him from the light. The first thing – _person_ – he sees is Professor Kwon hovering him, her glasses sliding off the bridge of her nose. Then there’s Yoochun just beside her, rid of the glasses he's usually wearing and instead wearing some weird goggles that Kyungsoo has only seen people wear when they go for a dive. The same pair that he wore during that broadcast that was cut off by the power interruption. And then there's Minseok craning his neck, a ghost of a smile pulling up at a corner of his lips. He props himself against his arms, then, squinting to check if the pixies are still in the area or if the team has scared them away, checking if everything _is_ indeed real.

"What is it with you and knocking yourself out during battle?" comes a more familiar voice, bright but not as loud as it should be, shaking towards the end. Heavy steps inching closer, then, "I thought you hated drama?"

Kyungsoo can almost hear the laughter that comes with it even with all these people blocking his view. So he snorts, shakes his head, breathes out as he says, "It's a hero thing." Baekhyun answers him with a snort, but if he closes his eyes or cranes his neck he knows he'll find Baekhyun's smile giving him away. He presses harder on the ground with his palms now, guiding himself up, and it isn't until then that he realizes that the pixies are helping him get back on his feet. They have their tails wrapped around his wrists, pulling him up until he's standing tall again. Soothing the gems down his back as if in an effort to soothe the pain, heal the wounds, erase the bright red scars on his skin with a swipe of the tail. It works for a while, until the ground begins to shake another time, to the beat of the Pokemon climbing down the opposite end of the tunnel that Excadrill has dug out.

Gardevoir's the last one out, landing on its feet in a light thud. Kyungsoo turns his head in his Pokemon's direction, trying to muster a smile, but all he gets from Gardevoir is a low groan and a frown. And then a hug when the Pokemon saunters closer, wrapping its arms around him in a tight embrace. Gardevoir's entire body is still clothed in light and it has probably used up more power than it should, but Kyungsoo can still feel the force of Gardevoir's amplified power in the slide of their limbs, in the way Gardevoir guides Kyungsoo even closer to its chest with its strong, lean arms.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep, deep breath. Tries to listen to the sound of Gardevoir's pulse in the fit of their bodies, tries to read Gardevoir's thoughts even with all the wounds in his body glowering at him, reminding him of how human he still is. He can feel Gardevoir's arms shaking, can feel its entire body giving a tiny jerk in the same way that it did when Ralts shielded him from an attack during the last few days of the war. Or was it that time when he and Seungsoo almost got hit by a powerful dragon-type attack from one of those Rocket grunts? He can't remember clearly now, but his body recalls the way he'd cowered in fear, the way his teeth chattered at the same time that Ralts' body gave these tiny tremors like energy was fast being drained from its body. And he remembers, as well, the way Ralts had breathed out into his chest as he promised, whispering in his Pokemon's ear–

"You won't go rouge. Don't worry. You didn't overdo it–" He laughs a little and runs a hand along Gardevoir's hair, soothing the loose strands and coaxing his Pokemon to relax. He cranes his neck a little, trying to look for Professor Kwon, but all he finds is Baekhyun with his arms crossed over his chest and a cut flaunted on his left cheek. "Did you get here through the tunnel or through Gardevoir?"

"A bit of both," Minseok answers. He locks his arms behind his back, stretching out, then continues, "We were about... a quarter into the tunnel when Gardevoir appeared right in front of us _then_ took us here?"

Must have been the pixies, he wonders now, nodding in thought. It was Mesprit, the guardian of emotion, that approached him that time, telling him to _focus, link with your Pokemon, be one with it. You're the only one who can do this._ And he did. He kept repeating that single line under his breath until he felt the final straw of the ripping sensation, until he felt Gardevoir pulling away but still keeping those strings vibrating between them where they're tied to each other by the tips of their fingers. "Thank you, Gardevoir," he whispers to his Pokemon, then, pressing a soft kiss to Gardevoir's forehead before looking back at Minseok. "Hyung, the Lake Trio you saw in back in Chuncheon-si, they're not real. They're–"

"Mirage Pokemon," Professor Kwon mutters, nodding. Inhaling long and deep, she approaches the pixies, taking one step after another and extending one arm in their direction. Kyungsoo remembers this from one of their Pokemon taming classes when he was much younger where Professor Kwon showed them how to make a Pokemon you’ve just caught warm up to you. _Reach out to it with a hand,_ she'd said then, and did as she'd just stated, _just one hand at first, then wait for it come closer._ It was a Poochyena that they were testing out the theory on that time, in less than a minute the Poochyena was eating off of Professor Kwon's palm. Not something you'd see a Pokemon as wild and unruly do in the face of a trainer who'd just weakened it enough to be able capture it. _You're giving it a choice, therefore empowering it and slowly building trust. So you wait for them to come over instead of being the one to approach. That's how you break down a Pokemon's first level of defense._

"I must say, though," she continues after a while, as the three pixies inch closer to where she is, "the mirages Team Rocket created were pretty amazing. I didn't think the Trio that we saw back in the lakes were just projections."

"It kind of makes sense now–" Minseok adds. He breathes out in a huff, twisting his mouth to the side as he searches for the right words. "–how the Swords acted around the Trio. They seemed tame at first but a few hours after, they got so agitated."

"Which we attributed to the time and space shift," Professor Kwon counters. She shrugs, then reaches for Uxie to give it a pat on the head. The Pokemon squeals and twirls in place. Kyungsoo can only gape at the sight, at the way Professor Kwon is able to earn these Pokemon's trust so easily. If she's planning on doing a demo on how to take care of Pokemon in the best way possible then this could be it, Kyungsoo muses. She doesn't need to have a special session on it just to get the procedure across. "Now I'm wondering if the Rockets just used it as a distraction instead of a back-up plan. I mean, if they can have duplicates of the legendaries they’ll have twice the amount of power at their disposal."

"And I'm wondering if the Rockets know that we're inside their quarters already," Soojung mutters under her breath as she looks around, craning her neck as she does so. She takes a few steps forward, into the cave and closer to an exit that Kyungsoo doesn't recall seeing when he was still alone in the cave. Or maybe it's a portal to another place in the cave. He's pretty sure exits that are supposed to lead to another section of the cave aren't supposed to be littered with light _unless_ Team Rocket has somehow installed a lighting system in the whole cave. "Maybe they have cameras inside or something. Can you see any–" Then Soojung's moving closer to the walls, studying each groove and depression with a careful, careful gaze. She’s running her fingers along the surface, as well, as if feeling for a gem, a stone, _a switch._ "They can't just leave the Trio here unguarded–"

"Or maybe we can," comes a voice from a few feet away, bouncing off the walls of the cave and echoing all around them. It sounds a bit familiar, Kyungsoo muses, how the voice is both bright and crisp, shrill yet not the type that will make you shiver all over at the first hint of the sound. Not until seconds after, at least, when he feels a traitorous cold settle on his nape, then wrap around his neck in a tight, tight grip. It's _eerily_ familiar in that Kyungsoo gets the strangest pictures in his mind when he blinks, closes his eyes for the briefest of seconds – getting trapped underground with three legendary Pokemon locked up in cages, having to go up against legendary Pokemon, four of them, in a deserted island north of Pohang-si. Having to hope that Gardevoir can come back for him to get him out of the building, take him somewhere safe miles away from whatever war zone the he was once in.

"Fancy seeing... the whole gang here, _wow,_ " Chanyeol says, tilting his head back as he chuckles. "Didn't know you had friends other than your little boyfriend–"

Baekhyun snorts. "He's tinier than I am, just saying,” he retorts, cocking an eyebrow at Chanyeol. He has one hand on his belt pack, though, ready to summon a Pokemon if needed. Maybe he'll send out Ludicolo against Chanyeol's fire-types; that would make the most sense. "But hey, nice seeing you around–"

"You're gatecrashing my party _again._ "

Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "If you just sent invites then we wouldn't have to break in–"

Kyungsoo gulps down hard, balls his hands into fists, feels around for Pelipper's Pokeball with the heel of his palm. If he's lucky then he can use Excadrill to weaken Chanyeol's Pokemon before Chanyeol can even order the critters to assault Excadrill and take it down with a powerful fire-type attack even before it can deal any damage. If he isn't, well, there's always Flygon and Pelipper to take care of things. But going up against an army of legendary Pokemon, he isn't so sure if his own team, already worn out just by trying to infiltrate the camp, can score victories against Chanyeol's own. He can try hard, try his best, but the probability of coming out of this battle alive, with a mostly unscathed Pokemon party, is close to impossible.

"I'm just saying, man, this party's too exclusive. What if they want to be friends with you, as well?"

"Nah, I don't think so," Chanyeol says, shaking his head. For a minute, Kyungsoo think she sees Chanyeol frowning, but he can't be too sure. Chanyeol switches from one expression to another in a blink of an eye, after all, shuffles his moods around so he's never just happy or sad or feeling murderous at one point in time. And it makes Kyungsoo's insides turn, makes his stomach lurch and makes him want to just throw up, wear plugs in his ears, drown out Chanyeol bright voice in a thick wave of silence to still the weird sensation inside him. "Your favorite professor there almost revoked my trainer license three years ago for no reason at all. I mean–" He shakes his head. "I can't trust someone like her to be my friend!"

"I made a _motion_ to revoke it because you weren't doing your duties as Pohang-si's junior gym leader. The supposed successor," Professor Kwon reasons now, gritting her teeth as she drawls the last few syllables. "It was never set in stone. You got your license back after the suspension–"

"That I ended up needing because that sorta gave me more time to... devote to my evil schemes." Chanyeol laughs, swaying his head from side to side, a wicked grin surfacing on his lips. Beside Kyungsoo, he can hear Baekhyun grimacing, can see him flinching when Chanyeol grins, baring all ten thousand of his teeth in a maniacal smile. "So I guess I have to thank you, professor, for that... thing you did for be back there. You're part of the reason I _am_ the way I am right now." He walks closer to where Professor Kwon is and reaches out with his hand, grazing the tips of his fingers along the underside of Professor Kwon's jaw. Professor Kwon doesn't flinch, though, doesn't pull away. Instead, she stays there, meeting his eyes in a focused gaze and pressing her lips together in a thin, thin line.

"I didn't train you to ruin you, Park," Professor Kwon says, and that's when she tilts her head the other way, disconnecting herself from Chanyeol. "When you were a kid, you were _the nicest person ever–_ "

"Couldn't even hurt a fly if I wanted to, yeah, you guys said that a lot." Chanyeol snorts. He threads his fingers through her hair and grabs a fistful, giving a light tug, and then she's scowling in response, eyes turning sharp and eyebrows furrowing the very next second. "I can always blame you for me trying to prove you wrong, prof, but eh–" He chuckles. "My plans are bigger and better than that."

Chanyeol holds her gaze, a tiny grin lighting the corners of his mouth. Her expression hasn't waned, lips parted into a scowl and eyes sharp, teeth chattering just a little like it's taking her every ounce of control to not kick Chanyeol in the balls or even punch him in the face. If anything, it's gotten more intense, like she's swearing at the back of her mind right now to make Chanyeol regret everything that he has done _by her hands._ Kyungsoo gulps down hard, leans back a little. Furrows his eyebrows because _damn,_ they've never seen her like this before. Professor Kwon has been nothing but an epitome of calm and control. She's always on top of things, even her emotions. She isn't the type to just give herself away. And yet here she is, asking Chanyeol, "How is wiping out human race in exchange for power any better than _anything,_ huh? Tell me, Park, why do you even want so much to–to rewrite history and build _your own goddamned world_ when you're not even sure that you'll get out of this test alive?"

Chanyeol cocks an eyebrow at her. Leans back a little as if trying to see the bigger picture, maybe to get a better sense of things. But then his cheeks are shaking and the smile on his lips is weakening and– "Because I'm certain of everything," Chanyeol reasons, voice steady and without its usual lilts for the first time since he's welcomed them to the headquarters. "You think I haven't been studying all these things day and night, Professor Kwon? You think I haven't figured out _every possible outcome_ that can stem from this– Ah, what do you call these things again? Projects? _Missions?_ " He laughs, breathes out in a huff, shakes his head at her. It makes Kyungsoo's insides turn a little, makes him shiver when Chanyeol stifled laughter rings in his ears. "I have been working on this my whole life, professor, ever since you told me in class that, _hey, little Park–_ " His voice thins to something shrill, almost reedy, like he's trying to mimic Professor Kwon's voice even if it sounds nothing like it at all. " _–maybe you're not for the sciences. Maybe you're not good enough to take my place because you can't even create berry juices even if they're so fucking simple!_ You remember that, professor? _Do you?_ "

Professor Kwon looks away. Beside Kyungsoo, he hears Baekhyun grunt, hears Baekhyun's feet shuffle until the two of them are pressed side to side, elbows bumping. He feels a jolt of electricity shoot up his arms, knocking at his elbows until he's stunned for the quickest second, until his heart stops before pumping again in full force. Part of him thinks the cave's connected to Chanyeol's somehow, that Chanyeol has offered a fraction of his life just to see this project come to fruition. And maybe that's why he's so sure he won't fuck things up. Maybe that's the only reason why Chanyeol is here and not miles away from the cave where he can be much safer, not having to worry about getting caught in the mess that he, himself, has made.

Is this a mirage, then, he asks himself. Is this cave just a mirage? Does Park Chanyeol even exist? Are they even real? Or is this all a figment of his fantasy – _a mirage_ that they've been led into thinking is real after the war? What if all the chaos fucked them up and twisted their perception of reality? It can't be far off – he knows a lot of people who have slipped into a state of insanity or emptiness after seeing the war unfold right before their eyes. He won't call them weak; they're the stronger ones, the ones who have come to accept that chaos is here to stay so they've decided to live with it, live _in_ it.

"Your failures do not define you, Chanyeol," she says. She takes a deep breath, then, gulping down hard, breathing out in a low exhale before she continues. "When I first heard reports about you from the League, I didn't think they were real. I didn't even think it was you. I mean, there could have been another Park Chanyeol–"

"Poor, _ordinary_ Park Chanyeol–"

"Part of me wanted to believe that the war just… really hit you harder than most–"

"And now you're calling me 'weak’.” Chanyeol snorts. “We don’t see each other in _years,_ professor, and you talk to me like this? You treat me like _trash?_ ” He laughs a little, then, shaking his head, eyes blowing wide with a brand of mischief Kyungsoo hasn’t ever seen in anyone yet. It makes his stomach twist, makes him taste acid and blood in his mouth. It makes him want to just hold his hands up and tell them to stop, just stop, _this conversation isn’t going anywhere–_

"I'm calling you by your name, _Chanyeol,_ ” Professor Kwon says through gritted teeth. “Because that’s your given name. That’s who you are. Not some… persona you’ve assumed when you joined Team Rocket."

“Correction: they recruited me. You do not choose Team Rocket; Team Rocket chooses _you._ ” Chanyeol folds his arms in front of his chest and takes a step back, and another, and then another, until his back is pressed to the walls of the cave. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows at that – he’s pretty sure he hadn’t seen that earlier, the slabs of stone just behind Chanyeol. There was nothing there but an expanse of empty space where the pixies were hovering, like they’d been drawn to Chanyeol the instant he appeared in their presence.

 _The pixies–_ Kyungsoo looks around him in one quick motion, craning his neck when he doesn’t see the Lake Trio close by. He looks over his shoulder, then, just in case, but to no avail – there’s nothing here but rough surfaces, walls, rocks upon rocks upon rocks and maybe some trickling water here and there. There’s no sign of the Lake Trio that pulled him up from where he’d fallen to the ground earlier, none of the peculiar warmth that the place carried when the Trio was around. And the air around them has thinned. His chest is heaving in quick, shallow breaths and he can feel something lodged in his throat again, sort of like Chanyeol had wedged it there when he wasn’t looking, when he wasn’t paying attention. When he was dissecting Professor Kwon’s expression instead of doing his job and watching over the pixies.

He clicks his tongue a little, shakes his head. Looks around him one last time in search for clues, for anything else that might be amiss, for the Lake Trio _just in case his vision was fucking up with him earlier–_

“If you’re looking for your darling pixie Pokemon, I shooed them away while you weren’t looking,” Chanyeol calls out, snorting as he ends. A corner of his mouth is tugged up more than the other, and he’s humming a small tune under his breath. And there’s something about the way he has an eyebrow cocked at Kyungsoo that makes Kyungoo want to punch Chanyeol in the face. Twice. The third blow, he’ll leave up to Professor Kwon. “ _This kid right here_ is your new favorite, professor? C’mon, prof, I’m sure you could do better–"

The ground beneath them shakes. Two seconds of respite and then it’s shaking again, stronger this time like it intends to have everything, everyone inside the cave crashing to the floor. Kyungsoo grips Baekhyun by the wrist with one hand, reaches for the nearest wall or rock and holds onto it like a lifeline. He can feel the jump in Bakehyun’s pulse, the way it goes from fast to faster and _can’t even count how many beats anymore._ And he can feel his own pulse, as well, at the back of his ears, his knees, his elbows, at the base of his throat, keeping him from breathing more easily. A few inches away, he sees Sunyoung and Soojung sinking to their knees, hands braced over the back of their head as they tuck in their chin. Minseok leans against a wall and Yoochun follows suit, seething when he accidentally clamps his nails on the rough surface. And Chanyeol grabs Professor Kwon by the wrist, yanks her closer in one swift tug, pulling her away from the group.

“Fuck–“ Kyungsoo mutters as he leans back against the wall. He motions for Baekhyun to do the same and reaches out so he can get a better hold on Baekhyun. The rocks are too sharp and rough and holding them feels like clinging to a less painful, less excruciating death, but at least he’s holding on. He can feel the tremors in his ankles more strongly now, can feel the sand and pebbles lifting from the ground, sticking to his pants and slipping beneath the fabric to cling to his skin. And Baekhyun tries to do as he is told, tries to stand upright so he can take a few steps back to put less strain on Kyungsoo’s outstretched hand and arm, but the shaking grows even more powerful, too strong, in fact, that soon Baekhyun is falling to his knees, skidding across the ground until he’s able to press his palms to the ground.

“I’ll borrow your leader for a bit!” Chanyeol calls out, waving over his head before wrapping one arm around Professor Kwon. He whistles at nothing, no one in particular, and stands there wearing the sickest grin that even the rocks falling from above cannot make right. Baekhyun tosses a Pokeball in the air in response, summoning Ludicolo and telling it to use Hydro Pump on Chanyeol, on the ground Chanyeol’s standing on, anything to keep Chanyeol away from the professor, but Ludicolo remains rooted on its spot, body shaking but not to the beat of the movement of the ground. For a moment, Kyungsoo considers sending help, thinks of summoning his Pelipper and using flight as advantage, but–

“Jesus, Ludicolo, just–“ Baekhyun’s voice thins into silence at the next shake of the ground, and then, “Shit, Ludi– Look out!"

It's almost impossible to see anything with lenses as scratched up as much as his skin is but Kyungsoo squints, nonetheless. The cracks on the ground are getting bigger, wider, more and more until it almost reaches Ludicolo and almost swallows up the Pokemon. And maybe that the point of this quake because there's a black hole up top already; why not consume everything inside the cave by burying them in the ground, right? It makes sense. Baekhyun seems to share the thought, recalling Ludicolo back to its capsule before the cracks can cut out a hole around the Pokemon and clutching the capsule close to his chest when he sees lava rise from the crack.

"Fucking–" Baekhyun tries to scramble to his feet, but all he ever succeeds in doing is to shuffle to the far end of the section of the cave that they’re in, back pressed to the wall, the tips of his fingers brushing against Kyungsoo's shoe. "What the hell's happening– I can't even–" Can't even begin to comprehend how the earth is moving, can't even understand how this can happen to them, Baekhyun probably means. Kyungsoo'd be asking the same if half of his mind wasn't so caught in watching the lava form a lump, one on top of another, cooling into a darker shade of red and solidifying into something that resembles a dinosaur. Smooth lava turns into sharp-edged blades on the dinosaur's head, then runs along the curve of the dinosaur's back, creating scales out of the cooling red liquid. A blink of the eye and Kyungsoo's seeing marks on the dinosaur's skin, not really patterns but drawings of shapes – rectangles, a few hexagons, circles on the dinosaur's elbows and knees. Four sharp blades for its tail, then a nice, thick coating of gray or something close to asphalt covering its stomach. Then spikes come bursting from its sides, each about three to four inches in length. It looks every bit like the kind of creature you see in storybooks or on television, or the type you hear the elderly tell children about in an attempt to get them to sleep in the afternoon or be home by six in the evening – a tall red dinosaur looming over people, yet lurking in the shadows and keeping its power to a sizzle, waiting for the right time to shake up the ground. A majestic Pokemon that has the ability to make volcanoes erupt, to make continents shake, to make people and Pokemon shiver at its cry. A legendary Pokemon capable of creating land and then taking it away at the next minute whenever it wishes.

"Groudon,” Kyungsoo whispers under his breath, _breathes out_ into the space before him as he marvels at the Pokemon some more. Groudon stretches its arms out and lets out a loud cry, making the ground shake even more, but Chanyeol who's standing atop the legendary Pokemon doesn't seem to be bothered. Heck, he's standing upright, his hold on Professor Kwon so tight that she can't even do more than pound her fist on Chanyeol's back. Kyungsoo shields his eyes a little, then, when the cave begins to burn in the brightest light – intense sunlight, he notes, the same imbalance they'd experienced outside on the other side of the barrier, back in Busan-si. It stings now more than it did back in the city, though, makes him seethe at the faintest sliver of light touching his body. The heat prickles his skin, makes him shiver, scores a burning line along his nape when he tries to tuck in his cheek so he can shield his eyes from the light.

"Can't catch a break in this place!" Baekhyun groans. He looks up for a quick moment, meeting Kyungsoo’s eyes, and, the next thing Kyungsoo knows, Baekhyun's wrapping his fingers around Kyungsoo's wrist, pulling Kyungsoo down to the floor, as well, as he says, "Pretty sure this isn't it's normal form! Isn't Groudon, like, completely red or something? From head to toe? This Groudon looks like it's been pumped with enhancers or something–"

Kyungsoo blinks a few times before shifting his gaze to the Groudon a few feet away. Everything looks normal, _feels_ normal, from Groudon's form to its cry to its ability to summon intense sunlight and heat, but– Kyungsoo squints another time and traces the spaces between the red scales, notices how the once black gaps are now glowing in bright yellow or orange. It’s almost as if there's lava slotted between the scales, ready to spill from Groudon's body at the first attack Chanyeol commands it to launch.

"Maybe it has another form? Like the genies?" Kyungsoo calls out, not tearing his eyes from Groundon just yet. The light Groudon is giving off is _blinding_ and his eyes feel like they’ll burst into flames anytime soon, but he can’t seem tear his eyes from the sight just yet. Groudon keeps drawing him in, making his breath hitch with every cry the Pokemon lets out, with every step the legendary takes closer to where they are. He hears Baekhyun grunt in response, hears Baekhyun say something along the lines of _what item, then? I mean if those genies needed a glass to see their true form then what does Groudon need to reach this state?_

Mega evolution, he almost blurts out, but then they don't even know much about mega evolution other than the fact that only a handful of Pokemon can do it. The last time he checked, most starter Pokemon across regions are able to mega evolve after reaching their final evolution form, but even that one he hadn't learned from books or research – he picked that up from experience. From testing out which mega stone works with Pokemon based on both the glow the orb gives off and the color of the fibers breathing life into the otherwise empty vessel.

Groudon's already strong, as it is; giving it a mega evolution is like giving it the power to rule the world. And that sounds exactly like something Team Rocket would do.

"Doesn't matter. We've got to try to bring it down, somehow," he murmurs in response. He takes a deep breath, then looks around him for a quick second to check how the others are doing. Sunyoung and Soojung are kneeling on the ground, while Yoochun and Minseok are holding onto each other for support, pressing their bodies against a pillar so they won't slip and fall into the hole Groudon had come out of. He takes two Pokeballs from his belt pack, then, and tries not to crush his arm beneath his weight when he motions to hold both above his head so he can send out his Pokemon. "I can do aerial attacks," he tells Baekhyun, then, turning to his side to address Baekhyun. He runs his thumb along the surface of the capsules in his hand. “Can you cover the ground? Or have one of your Pokemon go with Groudon if it ever goes underground again?"

"That's–" Fucking insane, he almost hears Baekhyun saying in the way Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow at him, in the way Baekhyun's mouth twists into a scowl to the side. But Baekhyun doesn't say that, instead going with, "Pretty risky. What if Groudon goes... I dunno, skinny dipping in lava or what? I don't think Pokemon that aren't in the legendary league or something are capable of surviving that."

"Camerupt?" Kyungsoo suggests. He presses the button at the middle of both Pokeballs, then pushes the top cover of the capsules up with his thumbs. "Same typing, right? Might be your best bet," he adds after a while, then slips both capsules in his pockets instead of clipping them to the belt pack he always carries around. He tries to push himself up, to steady himself on his arms. "Groudon won't go 'skinny dipping' in lava, I'm sure. It's carrying Chanyeol on it's back–"

Groudon speeds past them, punching through a hole through the wall at the back and sending the rocks crashing down to the already shaking ground. Kyungsoo grips Baekhyun tight by the arm, his other hand holding onto one of the few pillars erected from the ground still standing after the powerful quakes took everything down. Beside him, Baekhyun links their hands together, curls in his body just a little and braces one arm over his head in an attempt to survive the best way he knows how. He can feel the rocks weighing down on his legs, ripping his pants and leaving him with scars. He can hear Baekhyun groaning – in pain, in distress, in _frustration,_ he can't tell yet. All he can make sense of right now is Minseok sending out his Abomasnow to cool down the entire place, then Sunyoung helping out by calling forth her own Abomasnow and telling it to take the other side, "That way, we can go faster!" But there's no going faster now, no point in running after Groudon or Chanyeol or Professor Kwon who's been held captive. Team Rocket is ahead of them by leaps and bounds and Kyungsoo isn't sure how to cross the distance with a blind leap of faith.

The shaking comes to a gradual halt after a few seconds, like Groudon has carried with it the tremors of the quake when Chanyeol told it to run and leave the others suffering on the floor. It takes a while for the rest of them to recover – Yoochun lying flat on his stomach and pushing himself up inch by inch, Soojung with her head thrown back against the wall, eyes closed as she mutters, "I can't even feel my body anymore." Minseok laughs at that, walks over to where she is with steady footsteps and an even steadier arm when he offers to help her get up. When she just stares at him for a few good seconds, he snakes an arm around her shoulder and guides her back to her feet, half of her weight on Minseok and the other half still scattered on the once-quaking ground. She doesn't put up a fight anymore, doesn't even flinch at the first touch, but when she feels here legs again, now resting against a pillar of ice, one Sunyoung's Abomasnow has made, she says, "Pretty sure I saw Groudon go through some kind of transformation right after it rose from the ground. Sort of like it's been evolving the whole time it was underground and the process ended only when it reached the surface?"

"But legendary Pokemon don't evolve," Yoochun comments. He takes slow steps to where Minseok and Soojung are, then sends out his very own Abomasnow. Minseok snorts in thoughtless response; Soojung widens her eyes, then shakes her head before looking up at Yoochun in earnest. "They _shouldn't_ evolve, at least. You've all seen the power that these legendary Pokemon already have inside them even at their base state. The Swords – you know what they're capable of, right? You _do_ know that they can slay an entire nation if they wanted to, right?"

"If they're provoked, aggravated," Kyungsoo says, voice cracking towards the end. When he finally gets back to his feet, he feels a sharp pain shoot up from his ankles to the back of his knees. He only bites his tongue at that; he can't afford to take any breaks anymore, not in the middle of this war and with Professor Kwon in Team Rocket's possession. "They're the same as our Pokemon; it's just that they have a greater capacity to do something good or something evil."

“Or maybe a neutral ground for that and just keep people stuck in a cave," Baekhyun groans. He breathes out for a while, then widens his eyes as he looks over Yoochun’s shoulder. Then he's cocking his head in the direction of the wall just behind the ground, the same wall that Groudon had punched through earlier. "Well, at least this is one good deed from our favorite villains. They actually dug out a path for us. How convenient."

Sunyoung snorts. Soojung follows suit, laughing light and low more than anything else, and soon Minseok's rolling his eyes and dropping the furrowed eyebrows, the pursed lips, the worried look on his features for something brighter, _better._

"And at least we're still alive," Yoochun adds after a while. "We could've gotten trampled by Groudon. We're actually pretty lucky."

Kyungsoo nods – that's pretty much the only thing he can do right now what with his limbs feeling like they might just fall off anytime, already heavy with wounds and scars and a shitton of pain, but he can't say he doesn't agree. They've already faced so many legendary Pokemon in the past half year, ever since Professor Kwon had bestowed upon them their trainer license and deemed them people fit to take care of Pokemon, maybe even the world. The four of them have probably had as much scars and wounds and broken bones as the number of Pokemon they've caught and kept in their boxes. Yoochun and Minseok have gone through just as much shit as they have experienced in these few months that they've been trainers, but they're still here. They're breathing. They're _alive._ And they're being given another chance at saving the world through these punctured walls leading to wherever Chanyeol may be. They've been given another opportunity to make things right and reel Professor Kwon back to their harbor.

They still have a chance at saving the world.

"Berry break before we get going?" Yoochun asks, then, handing each of them a tiny yellow berry, placing it on the palm of their hand. "We'll need all the energy we can get."

Baekhyun stares at the berry for the longest time, lips parted, head tilted to the side. He looks like he's about to say something big or maybe something even dramatic, like a pep talk for everyone before they go deeper into the cave and try to save the world again, this time without capes and with more bruises, but he doesn't. Instead, he chuckles, snorts, then narrows his eyes a little as he says, "We're going against legendary Pokemon and you give us a Sitrus berry? Seriously, hyung?" Yoochun only widens his eyes, laughs soon after, then gives Baekhyun a light jab on the arm, the chest, the cheek.

"To saving the world," Baekhyun says, nonetheless, holding up the berry in the middle of their tiny circle.

Yoochun ruffles Baekhyun's hair before raising his own berry. Sunyoung breathes out a scoff, but joins in the 'toast', just the same. Then Soojung's following suit, elbow knocking into Minseok as they inch even closer. They all look weird holding a Sitrus berry up in the air like this especially since they're trapped in a cave with stolen legendary Pokemon that they have to set free, but something about the way the sticky slide of their limbs feels right. Something about the way electricity shoots up Kyungsoo's arm when Baekhyun bumps his elbow against Kyungsoo’s own makes Kyungsoo feel as if they’re right where they’re supposed to be.

"To saving the world," Kyungsoo says, then, sealing the circle of their berries with his. He leans to his right, against Baekhyun's warm body, and smiles. "To us."

↔

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath, bending his knees a little and letting his face fall forward as he tries to even his breathing. He can feel the winds blowing more strongly against his face now, leaving a dull ache on his skin with every whip and lash. His shoes no longer squeak and sink in the ground whenever he takes a step forward. He can actually feel his chest loosening again after going up and down and running around while thwarting the forces of evil, calling out one attack after another as he tries to get his Sceptile out of harm's way. And he can hear whatever it is that Baekhyun's saying, albeit a bit muffled in the way Baekhyun buries his face in his his hands, trying to restore the feeling in his cheeks. There's no longer the distant echo of their voices when they were still inside the cave, trapped in the place's thick, rough walls. And there's no longer the security that the walls sort of lent them, knowing that they're now out in the open and they can see the black hole a few meters away.

"D'you think they're alright?" Baekhyun asks now, pausing to take a few quick breaths. He pounds on his chest a few times and coughs out, then gets to bouncing on the heels of his feet. Trying to get accustomed to being _outside_ again, part of this world and not caged in a different dimension, neither safe nor in immediate danger. Kyungsoo shifts his gaze to his side, then, sneaking a glance at Baekhyun then sliding a hand up Baekhyun's back to rub circles on it. They've been running around for a little over thirty minutes and yet Baekhyun isn't sweating. Heck, the only sign of fatigue is their heaving chests and ragged breathing. Their cheeks aren't even flushed with heat. It's almost as if time stopped for them there, as if entering an entirely different dimension suspended every ounce of truth that they've come to acknowledge living in their human world. "I mean, when we left them, Minseok-hyung was sorta wheezing."

Kyungsoo snorts. Old age, he's tempted to say, but even his throat rebels against that idea, scores a line of acid up his throat until he's coughing. "Should be," he says after a while, when Baekhyun leans into his touch and lets out a faint sigh. "Soojung's screens are strong. Even Sceptile and Blaziken couldn’t get through so they could do one of those combination attacks at first to take down the Rockets."

He can still recall his and Soojung's struggle before they parted ways, when they tried to do a series of joint attacks so they could deal more damage with their Pokemon but not lose that much energy. Their Pokemon were on opposite sides of the circle they'd trapped some of the Rocket grunts in, and Soojung made her Claydol summon these defensive screens that would make it difficult for Team Rocket's attacks to get through. Blaziken was firing off one fire-type attack after another. Sceptile and Baekhyun's Swampert were doing the same. The attacks wouldn't meet at the center no matter what even if they tried hard enough, wouldn't meld because those screens kept repelling them and only made it possible for the attacks to scratch the surface. Defeats the purpose, Kyungsoo recalls himself thinking then, remembers almost laughing to himself, _at himself_ because they were helping Team Rocket more than helping themselves. So Soojung threw her hands up in the air, groaned before telling her Claydol to drop the screens, screamed out, “Screw defenses. We’re going hyper offense, everyone! Gear up!"

In fifteen seconds, they'd taken down at least thirty grunts even without combining their attacks. In another ten, they'd scared off some five, six grunts who were approaching. Then in a few more seconds, they'd face another set of grunts, set back again from reaching the peak of the mountains because of all the time they'd spent fending off Team Rocket. It was one of the quickest battles Kyungsoo had ever experienced. And it was also the first time he'd battled alongside someone who wasn’t Seungsoo, or Baekhyun, or Sunyoung, the first time he’d ever shared the same side of the playing field with a group of people who might as well have known him for an entire lifetime already, what with the synchronicity they had during battle.

"Go," Kyungsoo recalls Sunyoung calling once out the ruckus had died down a little, recalls Sunyoung waving her hands to get his attention on the other side of the field. She'd shifted her gaze for a quick second to tell her Pyroar to use Heat Wave now instead of Hyper Voice. "And you, Swellow, help the others out and use Tailwind– Yeah, Soo, and you too, Baekhyun–" She snarled at the grunt approaching her and summoned another Pokemon, this time her Azumarill. The corners of her mouth were tugged up, though, sort of like she was actually enjoying the battle, like she was having the time of her life stretching her limits and coming up with all sorts of strategies to score them a victory. "You two should go ahead!"

"Are you _out of your mind?_ " Baekhyun yelled, nose scrunched and his eyebrows furrowed. He hadn't looked away from his Swampert just yet, hadn't stopped telling his Pokemon to alternate between attacking the opponents with a Waterfall attack and protecting its teammates with Wide Guard, but his torso was twisted such that half of him was facing Sunyoung and half of him was facing all these grunts who wouldn't stop pouring in. Trust Baekhyun to be able to multi-task at the height of the war. "You want us to leave you guys out here to die? _Park Sunyoung,_ we haven't _come this far_ to just–to just _leave_ each other behind or what–"

Sunyoung ducked an oncoming attack and ordered her Azumarill to counter with a Play Rough attack. Soon, the Houndoom she was facing was falling to the ground, writhing in pain before going unconscious. Half of her mouth was curled up into a small smile. The other half was stuck in a weird mix of a frown and something more neutral, like she couldn’t decide how to feel just yet. "Stop being a drama queen. We won't die."

"You _can–_ "

"We _won't,_ " Minseok called out, then, ordering his Abomasnow to slow down a little and breathe, _rest up a bit before those grunts start attacking again– Alright–_ "But if you don't press on then _maybe_ we will. We could die. All of us. _Together._ " He skipped a few steps to the side, narrowly dodging one of those attacks from the Rockets – Kyungsoo couldn't tell which was which anymore; there were too many voices in his head already and none of them were his – then told Abomasnow to attack using Blizzard with all it had. Minseok's chest was heaving. There was no trace of sweat trailing the curve of his face or even patches of sweat on his shirt, but his shoulders were lifting in these quick little heaves and his lips were trembling as he said, "Sure, Yoochun-hyung and I are leaders and Soojung and Sunyoung are great trainers, but we're not the ones who have faced them before. You two– You've gone neck-to-neck with these guys at least twice in the past and you've _scared them away!_ I mean–" He laughed, shook his head, shot the grunts a sharp look and sent out his Mamoswine to dish out quick attacks using Ice Shard. "We _will_ be able to make them experience a loss but you two are the ones who can make them _taste defeat,_ Kyungsoo. And heck, you've survived, what, three, four legendary attacks? Doesn't that say something? Doesn't that at least _mean something_ to you?"

That we attract trouble from anywhere and everywhere, Kyungsoo was tempted to say, but he didn't. Instead, he swallowed hard, snuck a glance at his Sceptile and told it to use Giga Drain on the oncoming Sharpedo – three of them. Sceptile took all three out with one hit, then leapt over to where Swampert was to help fight off one of the grunt's Pokemon. If the world wanted them to die early by the hands of legendary Pokemon then maybe they would've died much, much earlier. They wouldn't even be here. And Kyungsoo wouldn't have to make that one decision that could change the course of their mission, this long journey to the peak of the mountain, the end of the bad story, conquering a nightmare and turning it into a fulfilment of a dream where they save the world and everybody lives happily ever after.

"If there's anyone who can do it," Minseok said between faint wheezes after dodging another attack. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, then faced Kyungsoo once and for all. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced now, but the smile on his lips sort of lifted the years from his features a bit. It loosened the knot in Kyungsoo's chest a little, made it easier for him to breathe. And it made his insides turn, one quick lurch that caught him off-guard and made his breath hitch. "It's you. The two of you. So if you really want to finish this longass mission already and save the world then please, _please,_ go. Now. And we'll catch up." The ground beneath them was shaking and already it was difficult to believe that the rest of the group could get out of this mess without running into a few unfortunate events. "We promise we will."

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath now and curls his hands into tight fists. Shivers when the cold wind blows again, pounding on his back as if a reminder of where they are, what they have to do. Who they're supposed to be. Beside him, Baekhyun lets out a long sigh and shuts his eyes for a quick second, inhaling long and deep. "Yeah, the screens were pretty awesome," Baekhyun mumbles, then, laughing a little. The smile on his lips is relaxed, a bit more natural. Kyungsoo's insides turn. "Pretty crazy, too."

Kyungsoo grips his knees tight at the next shake of the ground, crouching closer to the surface in an attempt to keep his balance. Out of the cave and stepping on a steep, rocky path now, it's easy for their knees to give away, for them to roll down the walls of the mountains and fall to the ground the very next second. It doesn't help that the direction the winds are blowing in keeps changing, attempting to push them off the cliff _then_ sucking them into the black hole every few seconds. _That's_ what's crazy, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. Still, they press on, taking a few steps forward, standing low when the winds begin to beat them up again, then getting back to their feet until they arrive at the very top, just three, four feet from some steps leading to where the black hole is.

He furrows his eyebrows for a bit, looking around them when he hears a faint voice in the wind. "Did you hear that?" he asks, then, glancing at Baekhyun before craning his neck to check their surroundings and– He takes a deep, sharp breath at the sound of a low voice that rings in his ears as they march even closer to the source. He cocks his head forward, gesturing at Baekhyun to catch up, come closer, _be quick,_ and Baekhyun reaches out for his hand to lace their fingers – cold, trembling – together.

"Can hear it now," Baekhyun says, a tiny smile lighting the corners of his lips. Kyungsoo can't tell which Baekhyun is talking about – the rumbling of the ground, the whooshing of the winds, the chanting in the air. The thrumming pulse in the slide of their hands or the thumping in Kyungsoo's chest that matches Baekhyun's pattering pulse against his skin. The promise written in the fact that they’ve made it this far and maybe, just maybe, they can finish this mission once and for all. Together.

The next shake of the ground almost brings them down, but Gardevoir and Espeon are quick to burst from their Pokeballs to hold them up. "Thanks," Kyungsoo mutters, stretching out his other hand in Gardevoir's direction at the same time that Baekhyun bends his knees a little so Espeon can climb onto his shoulder. And this would probably make a great picture on posters advocating Pokemon rights and the proper way to treat your Pokemon partners, but not against the backdrop of war or with the strong winds blowing against their faces. Not with the ground shaking every few seconds and blurring the perfect picture of how Pokemon and their trainers should coexist. And not with the unintelligible sounds finally becoming clearer, the syllables coming together into words, sentences, _a prayer_ addressed to a god named 'Rayquaza', asking it to look down upon the country with a smiling face and to wipe the lands clean of sin–

"They're summoning Rayquaza," he mutters under his breath, then nudges Baekhyun in his side when Baekhyun doesn't respond. Baekhyun grimaces at first, snarls in reply, but soon he's nodding and thinning his lips into a thin, thin line as they inch even closer to the source of the sound. He doesn't know much about Rayquaza, only that it quelled the war between Kyogre and Groudon before, when the world was but a wisp of time and space, without any form – created, but without any sign of life. It tamed both legendary Pokemon and urged them to work with each other to create the land and the sea, to separate them into two different basins. To help create a world where creatures of their kind – Pokemon – and the guardians who have sworn to protect these creatures – humans – can coexist. From time to time, they'd clash and create storms, but Rayquaza would always be there to calm them down, to ease their pain. To settle their dispute and to make both ends meet. To restore the world that they had created and bring peace upon the land once more.

"I don't get it. They're fucking up space and time already and now they want to... I dunno, stop the rain and the drought with Rayquaza?" Baekhyun shakes his head a little and scrunches his face. Snorts even when the ground shakes again, the pebbles scoring tiny scratches on Kyungsoo's ankles this time, what with his pants already tattered. "They're _disposing this planet_ to build another one. Why the need to reset everything and wash away _what?_ What did they say it was again?"

" _Sins of people whose deeds and creeds have done nothing but taint–_ " Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows another time, then tugs at both Baekhyun and Gardevoir's wrists to pull them closer to their destination. The link of their limbs sort of makes it easier to power through the quake, to get through this test. It doesn't make listening to the prayer – no, the _mantra_ – the man is saying any easier, though. " _–these blessed lands, your sacred seas._ Something like that."

"Is that even a real prayer or something? It sounds like bullshit."

It sounds like a mish-mash of all the odes and prayers to legendary Pokemon in one of the books they'd studied in the past, he almost says, but part of him is convinced that such a prayer exists. Maybe they'd just skipped that during one of their lectures, or maybe they were both absent from class the day it was discussed, but there's no denying this – these Rockets are not only trying to summon another legendary Pokemon in the hope of making the disasters end, but also possibly hoping to earn Rayquaza's trust and use it to _control_ both Kyogre and Groudon who recognize Rayquaza as their keeper and master. Could be a farfetched goal, but with the red crystals in their possession, with the Lake Trio locked up somewhere in the cave, maybe even in special Pokeballs that Team Rocket has designed just for this, it might be possible.

"Guess we'll just have to find out," Baekhyun mutters under his breath. He coughs out, breathes in deep, and gives Kyungsoo's hand a light squeeze. "Let's go?"

One small step forward, and Kyungsoo sees the tuft of one person's hair. It's the brightest shade of orange. With the way the winds are blowing, it almost seems as if the person's hair is aflame. Another, and he can see the slope of the man's neck now, then another person opposite the former. He squints his eyes, trying to look for any sign of Kyogre or Groudon, but no such luck – there's nothing but the figure of two humans here, nobody but these two Rockets with their palms pressed together in prayer.

He swallows hard, then turns to Baekhyun with a nod of the head. He gives Baekhyun's hand one tight squeeze, relishing the sting of the stretch of his skin on the back of his hand, of the veins there, leading up to his wrist and the rest of his arm, thrashing about and making his arm shake a little. Of regaining the feeling in his fingers that he'd once lost on their way to the peak, as they weaved through the many rooms and levels of Sobaeksan.

"Let's go," he whispers just loud enough for Baekhyun to hear. _Let's make things right._

Kyungsoo's expecting... something a bit more 'chaotic' for a moment in his life where he goes against two people who have been nothing but a pain in the neck since day one. Ruins, lava, crashing waves in the background, whipping winds, _heck,_ even explosions – he expects these, not two people who are pulling their hands apart from the tight press they'd been in earlier, then reaching out to each other to entwine their fingers and to shout out a legendary Pokemon's name while lifting their heads up high. And he certainly isn't expecting to see Chanyeol with his hair _indeed aflame,_ burning a sick mix of orange, yellow, and red, dancing in the wind as he chants the mantra under his breath. The man opposite him – Jongdae, he’s almost forgotten the man's name, probably wouldn’t have if he’d faced Jongdae in Seoul to earn the Bolt Badge – stops chanting, opens his eyes to reveal bright blue orbs beneath his eyelids and tendrils of blue falling from the sides of his face. It's almost as if something has washed over them, _consumed_ them entirely and rid them of the last dregs of their identity as Park Chanyeol and Kim Jongdae, trainers who have been on a quest to tap the fullest potential of Pokemon through mega evolution. It's almost as if _they've_ consumed the legendary Pokemon in their possession – Groudon for Chanyeol, and Kyogre for Jongdae.

He gulps down hard. Shivers, as well, and tightens his grip on Gardevoir. He can hear Gardevoir's thoughts at the back of his head, can hear the Pokemon asking, _what's happening? What are they doing? Why– What happened to them?,_ can even hear the loud thumping in his chest despite the chanting growing even louder than before. " _We come to you, oh Rayquaza, as humble servants of your land,_ " Chanyeol and Jongdae are both saying, eyes shut so tight as they enunciate each syllable. " _So hear our voices, hear our plea, and come down upon us, where we stand!_ " But nothing comes. The pillar standing atop the mountain, adorned with a sculpture of the legendary Pokemon, Rayquaza, itself, hasn't moved, isn't even glowing the way the legends say it should if Rayquaza ever comes down from the heavens to join humans in this world.

"God _dammit!_ " Chanyeol cries out, but still doesn't pull away. Opposite him, Jongdae's shaking his head and his shoulders are falling forward, but they press on, start the chanting again like doing a second, third, fourth take of the mantra can change things. It won't. It's the same prayer at the core, the same praise directed to Rayquaza that holds the same meaning. Trying to bug the legendary Pokemon won't do anyone any good. Worse comes to worst, the two might just aggravate the situation, irritate Rayquaza and make it wipe out the entire land, Team Rocket included.

Beside Kyungsoo, he feels Gardevoir flinch, feels his Pokemon's arm give a tiny jerk. He looks to this side, then, tells Gardevoir that everything will be alright, there's nothing to fear. If Rayquaza ever decides to wreck havoc upon the land then they won't be the first to die; that would be Chanyeol and Jongdae. And then them, because they're at the peak, as well, close enough to the black hole that they can give in to the force of the hole and get sucked in if they ever lose hope. And then the friends they've left behind inside the cave will get sucked in as well. Then the people they've met all over the country – Jinki, Joonmyun, Jino, even Yura – the people they left behind in Mokpo-si in the form of Seungsoo and Baekbeom – all of them will suffer the same fate all because he and Baekhyun had given up on trying to save the world.

Kyungsoo shakes his head a little, cracks his neck. Takes a few quick breaths before trying to swallow down the last few bits of apprehension so he can breathe better, easier.

"I keep thinking Groudon and Kyogre have merged with these two but that idea's just _sick._ Sickening, but… I dunno. We’ve seen what these guys are capable of, after all," Baekhyun mumbles under his breath two verses into the prayer, dropping the syllables in order all at once. He shifts his gaze to meet Kyungsoo in the eye. "And then I think of ways to shut these two down because the sooner we do that, the sooner we keep them from summoning Rayquaza–"

"We shouldn't be worrying about Rayquaza. It might actually be able to help us." Kyungsoo scratches the slope of his neck, then the back of his ear. Crouches low when he sees Chanyeol shake his head and Jongdae pull away with a low groan. If he strains his hearing, maybe he'll be able to hear them talking about how much a disaster everything has been, how this whole summoning ritual is a fluke, a joke, but the whipping winds make it nigh impossible to hear beyond muffled groans and screams. "If Rayquaza does come down from the heavens then it can separate Kyogre and Groudon from the two–"

"You're totally buying the fusion thing. I thought I was being crazy by thinking that."

“Well, it’s not completely impossible." Kyungsoo narrows his eyes at Baekhyun in thoughtless retaliation, then rolls them when Baekhyun offers him one of those little smiles that sort of make Kyungsoo forget they're even in the middle of a war. "There have been experiments in the past–"

"Yeah, the one with Bill from wherever, I _know,_ " Baekhyun groans, then reaches over. Kyungsoo almost thinks Baekhyun’s going to slap him on the arm, but instead Baekhyun pulls him closer, leaving less of his body not covered by the panel they’re using as a shield. They're hiding just behind a stone pillar that probably won't be able to shelter them from Team Rocket’s scrutinizing looks for too long, not with the way the strong winds are chipping at the stone with every might whip, but at least they're not in Chanyeol and Jongdae's line of sight. They have time to assess the situation, to think. "But _why_ would they have to summon Rayquaza? I mean, why not summon the god of all Pokemon, instead? Why not summon Arceus? One, it can stop the drought and the heavy rains. Two, it can wipe the world clean of… ‘sins’ or whatever those two want to call it. Three– It just _doesn’t make sense_ that they’d pour in so much effort into summoning Rayquaza unless they’re trying to catch ‘em all or something. It’s just weird–"

Kyungsoo looks up, meeting Baekhyun's gaze, and swallows hard as Baekhyun mutters, “Unless they’re hoping to… extract Rayquaza’s power for something, then… then they’re just wasting their time.” Baekhyun takes a deep breath, then bites the inside of his cheek. "And I don't think they're the type to do exactly that and give people like us time to fight back."

"Just _give up!_ " comes a voice not too far away, muffled by the winds but loud and clear enough to reach their senses. Kyungsoo looks up at the onset of the sound, at the drop of the first syllable, the first hint at the familiar timbre of the voice. Baekhyun shifts, almost bumping one shoulder into Kyungsoo's own, then risks a glance over the other side of the pillar to check who the source of the voice is. Kyungsoo shakes a little at the collision of their elbows, at the way the voice rings in his ears like a warning haunting him for days on end. _Professor Kwon, right?_ Baekhyun mouths at him when he resurfaces, looking back at Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo gives him two tentative bobs of the head in response, a slow and uncertain _I think so?_ tracing the movement of his lips. _Hard to tell?_ "I told you, the only person who can summon Rayquaza is a descendant of the dragon tamers, people–" Light coughing, a scowl, a hitch of Kyungsoo's breath, then the woman continues, "–people who _know_ how to reach out to these legendary Pokemon by _saying an earnest prayer instead of just asking them for more power!_ " The woman's voice cracks a little somewhere along away, when it peaks, then soon drops into a faint sound of disdain. Kyungsoo can't even call it a scowl; it sounds different, like the woman had made a sound _especially_ to express disappointment and scorn for Chanyeol and Jongdae. He can only close his eyes in response, feeling a cool shiver crawl up his nape and wrap around his neck in a tight, vicious grip, choking him until he has to swallow down the sensation again. "Stop using these Pokemon for your own gain–"

"Shut up, professor. Can't you see we're trying to concentrate here?" Jongdae says, a tight smile stretching across his features and pulling up at the corners of his lips. There it is, Kyungsoo muses, the confirmation they've been waiting for, the answers scrawled over the tone of Jongdae’s voice as if he’s saying, _we’ve been working hard for this for years so stop getting in our way._ It’s in the wicked upward curl of his mouth, as if he wants to add, _and you wouldn’t want to see me mad, professor. That’s the last thing you’ll want to happen._ He wants to look away or maybe wipe off that look on Jongdae's face with a punch to the nose, by grabbing Jongdae by the wrist, but then violence won't get them anywhere. And if Chanyeol and Jongdae _have_ indeed fused with Groudon and Kyogre then one wrong move can cost him, can cost _all of them_ their own lives. So he just keeps listening, pokes his head out a little to see more of the three, to get a glimpse of Professor Kwon and make sure she's alright. "We've got the power of the weather gods in us so we don't need some... dragon tamer's help–"

Professor Kwon shakes her head. "You _know_ that's what the legend says–"

"And you _know_ this is what you want to believe in," Jongdae retorts, narrowing his eyes at Professor Kwon. "The legends we've read about in books? These mantras that we say just to summon these fucking legendary Pokemon – who made those, huh? Some... divine being or something? The Pokemon, themselves? You think it really works that way, professor?" Kyungsoo cranes his neck a bit, trying to see better, but ducks at the very next second when he catches Jongdae motioning to look in their direction. " _No,_ people wrote those things. It's humans who created all these things to control other stupid humans who don't know how to think. This isn't–“ Jongdae snorts, scoffs, laughs. Shakes his head like he can’t believe he has to explain this to Professor Kwon, the best Pokemon professor that the country has ever had. "You can't just sit around and keep reading those books, thinking they’re real. That’s just– That's just _stupid._ So, the whole shit about Rayquaza and it having dragon tamers or something? I'm not falling for that. And seriously, professor, at your age and _with your credentials,_ I don’t even know why you’re buying any of that shit. You should know better."

Kyungsoo takes another deep breath, air passing through the narrow parting of his lips. Part of him just wants to rush into the scene, punch the life out of both Chanyeol and Jongdae, rescue Professor Kwon _and then_ think of a way to close up the black hole, but he knows that won't work. United with legendary Pokemon and possessed by some sick drive to create a new world that they can manipulate, Chanyeol and Jongdae won't be the easiest people to take down. Heck, he and Baekhyun might not even be able to touch the other two at all. How do humans who have fused with Pokemon even function? How do they control the beast inside them? Kyungsoo lets out another long breath, then shakes his head. Looks to his side to see how Baekhyun is doing and to check if his Gardevoir is still hanging on, not bothered by the winds and the sand sticking to their skin. Baekhyun hasn't looked away from Professor Kwon and the other two just yet, but he _is_ clenching and unclenching fists.

"They're distracted," Kyungsoo mutters after a while, then gives Baekhyun a nudge in his side. Baekhyun meets his gaze, then, eyebrows still furrowed a little when their eyes meet. "We can start with the attack. Every bit of damage counts."

"Then we go for the big guns later while trying to save Professor Kwon?" Baekhyun adds, cocking his head in the direction of the red crystals shooting up from the ground. Then a thin sheet of red drops from the skies, the tiny crystals glimmering against the dark backdrop and the even darker black hole. He keeps his lips parted, poised to speak, but nothing comes out. Baekhyun just sits there, gaping at the sight, looking around him like he needs more time to either marvel at the sight or to take it all in, come up with a plan to break these thin red walls, a way to defeat Team Rocket _and_ the legendary Pokemon they've taken in their possession. Like he's trying to think of a counter spell or incantation for this.

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath. He tries to ease the tension in his fingers, curling, unfurling, and then curling them again into tiny fists, clears his throat in an effort to get rid of the tightness in its walls. The sheet of red all around them isn't thickening and they aren't hearing any voices anymore, but he can _definitely feel_ the pull of the Lake Trio's power, can feel the warmth wrapping around his ankles and thawing out the rest of his body. He breathes out, long and loud, coughing out whatever had been stuck in his throat. Beside him, he catches Baekhyun widening his eyes, lifting his shoulders in a wild breath, but Gardevoir doesn't seem to be taking it well. It's shutting its eyes tight and throwing its head back against the stone pillar – the pillar that was once stone now turning into a giant red shard – then reaching out for Kyungsoo to tap on its own Pokeball, asking its trainer, _pleading_ for Kyungsoo to let it back in.

"Looks like they beat us to bringing out the big guns," Kyungsoo mutters, tries to say loud enough for Baekhyun to hear even with the light rumbling of the ground brought about by the red crystals shooting up from the surface muffling the sound, or the force of the whipping winds messing with the syllables. He taps the button at the middle of the capsule, sucking Gardevoir back in with a bright red light, then runs his thumb along the surface for a while. "The Red Chain isn't just taming the legendaries anymore. It's controlling–"

"Even our Pokemon, goddamit," Baekhyun says, growling, as Espeon gets down from where it had been sitting on Baekhyun's shoulders. More like _collapses_ into Baekhyun's waiting arms, really, but Kyungsoo knows better to call that out and make Baekhyun even more upset. Right now, what he needs is a partner in the battle who can push him to do better, who knows what he's thinking and how he's planning to launch an attack even without him saying anything. A person who can lift him up, not someone who will just set him back and even tie him down, render him incapable of doing anything. They _are_ in the middle of a war, after all; weakness is neither the best weapon not the best shield against whatever will be coming their way. "Now, who the hell's summoning all these pillars when the Trio isn't even here? I mean–" He shakes his head, presses his palms to his cheeks as if trying to wake himself up, forcing himself to make sense. "What, are you saying that those two merged with the Trio, as well? _Come on,_ give us a break–"

 _A break–_ "What if we try breaking down the crystals?" Kyungsoo says, looking at Baekhyun in the eye and fixing him with a gaze. He gulps down hard, tries to string his words together more clearly, even with the voices at the back of his mind going ballistic and screaming at him all at the same time. "The moment the crystals disappear, the legendaries will overpower those two and they'll be forced to release the legendaries from–"

"–from their bodies. Undoing the bond and basically making the two weak–" Baekhyun snaps his fingers in the air, shutting his eyes as he searches for words, sentences, a plan they can carry out. "Which will make this entire place unstable and will make it easier for us to take down Team Rocket. I meant he execs–"

"And the black hole a bit more dangerous," Kyungsoo says after a while. He scrunches his nose, then traces a line along the slope of his neck with a scratch of the nail. " _Unless_ we do both at the same time."

"How do you even shut down a black hole? I mean, two Pokemon opened that up – Dialga and Palkia. So unless we'll be able to reach them, there's no way that we can stop the black hole from just... sucking in everything to the other side."

And if the black hole is unstoppable and spares nothing, no one from its brute force, then it _will_ suck the red crystals into the portal, as well. As soon as they get the crystals through the hole and into the other world, they can start tempering Pokemon abilities and powers the same way that they keep the legendary Pokemon's strength at a bare minimum in _this world_ that they're living in now. Maybe that's the reason why Chanyeol and Jongdae aim to keep two worlds: so that they can take what they've come to love from the previous world and dump them into the new one. So that they'll always have something to look back on, a reminder of their wrongs and how the could have done things right. The literal best of both worlds. Kyungsoo isn't so sure if he wants to laugh at how things are falling into place or berate himself for not piecing things together sooner.

He nods, slow and deliberate, then looks up at Baekhyun again. "We have to uproot the crystals," he begins, then tilts his head to the side. He'd caught sight of faint slivers of red earlier rooted to the base of the newly erected red stones on the ground, but the fibers keep disappearing every few seconds. He's lucky to have seen them at all. "I know you guys broke a bit of the barrier already but we have to render the crystals _completely useless._ "

"So we attack it at the very core. Which can't be the Lake Trio because they're nowhere to be found."

"We can start working on the crystals below. Pretty sure they came from the ones at the foot of the mountain. I mean, there are roots–" He looks to his side, then, squinting hard as he waits for the roots to show up. It takes around ten seconds for the slivers to glow a bright red, for the roots to resurface, but only five for the thin fibers to sink back to the ground. Knowing that the red pillars are connected is enough; that's something they can work off of to inch closer to victory. "I'll send some Pokemon down but we need to keep at least two with us. We're facing–" Three, five, seven legendary Pokemon on Team Rocket's side of the field? He's already lost track. All that matters right now is that they have a window of opportunity to thwart the forces of evil. So he takes two Pokeballs from his belt pack and tosses them in the air, Pelipper twirling as soon as it comes out then landing on the ground with a soft 'thud', and Sceptile stretching out its arms before facing Kyungsoo when it surfaces from its capsule. "–You know how crazy they can be."

Baekhyun snorts. Sends out another Pokemon, as well, and coaxes Espeon to get back up on its feet. He's whispering something to Espeon and Kyungsoo would try to strain his hearing just to catch what Baekhyun is saying, but the chaos around them makes it impossible to hear even the thumping in his chest. Or even Chanyeol and Jongdae trying to give that prayer another go, leaving their fate up to the 'mantra created by humans and not by the god Pokemon' despite not having faith in the legends that they've read about in books. He _does_ hear Baekhyun, though, the man's voice cutting through the thin distance between them when he says, "Can't be crazier than we already are." Baekhyun laughs, snorts, shakes his head. Lets out a long exhale when Espeon finally gets up on its feet, then runs a hand along the Pokemon's back. "Or what we're about to do."

Kyungsoo laughs. His throat feels tight, dry, tastes like blood and metal, but his chest feels unbelievably light. "I guess we'll just have to find out."

Sceptile climbs onto Pelipper, and the next thing Kyungsoo knows the two are diving from the cliff, heading south and to the foot of the mountains where they all started. Espeon and Pikachu follow suit, floating down to the surface in a purple protective bubble that Espeon has wrapped themselves with. It takes a while for the first signal to come, for one of the red pillars to shut down and to lose color, turning from a bright red _crystal_ then to rough stone, then eventually losing color, now reduced to the palest shade of white. Some explosion meters south of where they are and another pillar turns from red to white, faster than the previous this time around. Kyungsoo hears light crackling in the background with every passing second, as he watches a thick sheet of white spill from the tips of the pillars and wrap around each stone until all the can see is white posts each two meters away. He can feel it now, the winds getting colder, the wave of warmth the red crystals once provided dissipating and instead draping a cool quilt on their shoulders. And he can see the way Jongdae's body jerks a few meters away, when the winds blow even harder than before that even just loosening his grip on the pillar they're hiding behind can result to see them being kicked by the whips of winds off the cliff, down to the foot of the mountains to where their Pokemon are.

"What the– What the _hell?_ " comes a deep voice, cracking just before the last few syllables tumble from his lips. This is the Chanyeol they’d faced twice already, not the Chanyeol they were seeing just minutes ago, the one summoning the powerful legendary Pokemon, Rayquaza, to descend from the heavens. And _trouble,_ a voice at the back of his mind mutters when he tries to crane his neck to see better only to end up locking eyes with Chanyeol for the quickest of seconds. It isn't him who looks away – it's Chanyeol, with wide eyes and his mouth caught mid-scowl, mid-something Kyungsoo can't seem to read – but his grip on the pillar does wane and his arms give a tiny jerk and his breath hitches at the same time that he tries taking a deep breath.

"Do we bring out the _bigger_ guns now?" Baekhyun asks, then, looking in the same direction as he is, then shifting his gaze so that their eyes meet. "Or do we wait for them to come closer?"

Kyungsoo pushes himself back on both feet but stays behind the pillar, just peeking to see if Professow Kwon isn't hurt. He catches a glimpse of her, from the tuft of her hair down to the bridge of her nose, his eyes just glossing over Professor Kwon's furrowed eyebrows and the mild squint in her eyes. He can feel his insides turning. "We wait," he tells Baekhyun, then, doesn't even look over his shoulder to check if Baekhyun _has_ heard him. The rumbling of the ground has stilled and he can't feel the winds whipping his skin anymore, can't feel them slapping his face in hard swings. And Baekhyun hasn’t moved an inch, hasn’t even taken a Pokemon to battle the Rockets with from his belt pack. "For them to come closer. Then you sneak past them to carry Professor Kwon to safety–"

"She's shaking her head, though," Baekhyun muses. Professor Kwon is widening her eyes at them and shaking her head and Chanyeol's looking to his side to shush her with a sharp look, then an accusing finger pointed in her direction. Kyungsoo lets out a long, shaky exhale. "And she's tilting her... head? Pointing at the... thing at the middle?"

Kyungsoo ducks behind the pillar another time, taking a quick breath and cracking his neck, then he's poking his head out in the open once more to see what Baekhyun is talking about. There's _nothing_ at the middle, he almost groans, _Chanyeol and Jongdae weren't using anything to summon Rayquaza, nothing but their hands,_ but at the next blink the image becomes clearer, the details on the floor revealing themselves to him even with the skies getting darker with each second. Without the light filtering from above, the writings on the floor look like mere sketches, _mindless doodles_ that say nothing but the truth that red and green probably don't go with each other outside Christmas decor or anything related to Christmas, but soon Kyungsoo sees the _moving images,_ the hands pressing to the surface, familiar figures he never thought he'd see in real life trapped on the other side of the _floor._ There are blotches of blue with dashes of yellow, and pink, and a deeper blue, then streaks of white. Red gems at the center of their foreheads, and then adorning the tails, as well. "Isn't that the Lake Trio?" Baekhyun whispers even before Kyungsoo can string together syllables into words, so he nods, gulps hard, breathes out when he feels his chest get heavier. And he shivers when Professor Kwon guides his gaze up, right into the black hole looming just meters away from where they are where he can _finally_ make out faint visuals of _the same images_ he'd seen on the surface Professow Kwon is kneeling on.

"You mean– You mean the Lake Trio's–" On the other side of the portal, in another dimension, maybe even stuck between that world and _theirs_ – Kyungsoo hears it even if Baekhyun's voice trails off to a whisper, even if the thumping in his chest soars high above Chanyeol and Jongdae's sounds of distress, then their rushed footsteps that grow louder with each passing second. You mean to say DIalga and Palkia are also there, a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind screams out when he sees the faces of both the temporal and spatial Pokemon pressed to the same surface he'd seen the Lake Trio through, when he sees Professor Kwon stomping on the floor in an attempt – a futile attempt – to set them free. He can see the ropes binding her wrists and the red marks on her ankles now and he can see Chanyeol and Jongdae approaching and his insides are turning. And it's becoming even more difficult to breathe. Baekhyun's summoning his Camerupt and Swampert and he knows that he should be doing his part, trying to fend Chanyeol and Jongdae off so Baekhyun go and rescue Professor Kwon, but he doesn't even know what's happening. He's seeing all these things around him, feeling the winds leaving a dull ache on his skin, feeling Baekhyun wrap his fingers around his wrist and giving it a squeeze as he says, "Battle now, drama later.” And yet his knees keep weakening.

"We're stuck between dimensions," is all that he manages to say, all he manages to croak out as he shifts his gaze from Baekhyun to Chanyeol to Professor Kwon. To his shaking hands, then to Baekhyun reaching out to lace their fingers together, even tighter. " _Three_ dimensions. And the legendaries are stuck in the Distortion World, and–"

"And we can't do anything about it," Baekhyun says, voice dropping to a whisper. Kyungsoo can hear Professor Kwon stomping on the floor, then Jongdae roaring in frustration, telling her to stop and sending out his Luxray to stun her with a Thunder Wave. Then Baekhyun's saying, "I mean, realistically, we're in deep shit, but that doesn't give us an excuse not to try, right?"

 _If you need anything, anything at all, Kyungsoo, just ask,_ he recalls his brother telling him months ago, over their last breakfast together in Mokpo-si. He needs to find a way to break the barriers somehow and set the legendary Pokemon free. He needs to find a way to summon Rayquaza before Chanyeol and Jongdae do, before the two become fully consumed by the power they’ve gotten drunk on. He needs to find a way to peel that layer of light – Groudon and Kyogre’s aura – off of both Chanyeol and Jongdae before they can even bring more harm to the world. He _needs_ to act now to prevent anything and everything bad from happening.

He needs to know that everything will work out somehow, that they're not completely without hope.

He needs to _try_. And he needs Baekhyun to try something crazy with him.

"Right," he mutters after a while, then slaps his palms against his cheeks. Gardevoir comes bursting from its Pokeball, followed by Excadrill who looks up at Kyungsoo and gives his hand a gentle nudge. "Right, we can do this. We–" He nods, takes a deep breath, then meets Baekhyun's gaze. For a moment, he wonders why Baekhyun's smiling, laughing at him like they're not at the brink of dying, but soon he sees himself in Baekhyun's eyes. He groans in response. "Shut up. We're going to die. Not everyone handles the news well."

"And apparently, you're not 'not everyone'," Baekhyun teases, sticking his tongue out for the briefest of seconds before sucking it back in. "Okay, so, I go rescue the damsel in distress then we fuck some shit up?"

"You go rescue Professor Kwon and _stay with her while I distract the two,_ " he answers, trying to summon his best smile. But even his best attempt only yields a wry grin. "And wear your mega ring properly, _geez._ "

Baekhyun cocks an eyebrow at him, the corners of his mouth softening into something more unguarded, more natural. Something Kyungsoo hasn't seen in the past few hours that they've spent trying to stay alive and to save the world. "Planning do something with the ring, eh?" Baekhyun says, then, humming, then lets his shoulders fall forward when he breathes out. "Is it time?"

"We're going to get _stoned,_ " Kyungsoo whispers, wiggling his eyebrows in an attempt to lift the tension in his shoulders, to loosen the tight knot in his chest. It's Baekhyun who succeeds, though, with his bright laughter, the gentle slap on Kyungsoo's arm and the way Baekhyun laces their fingers together for the briefest moment, making Kyungsoo breathe out and breathe easy. "And then fuck shit up."

Baekhyun nods, then slips from their hiding place to dash to where Professor Kwon is. The climb isn't easy – the path up is still a bit too rock, not as leve as they would have wanted it to be. From where Kyungsoo is he can see Baekhyun's chest heaving, can see the stutter in his steps and the way he tries to flash a thumbs-up in Professor Kwon's direction to make up for lost time trying catch his breath. But it isn't at all impossible to get to the topmost level of the mountain. Baekhyun reaches it even before Chanyeol and Jongdae fall to their knees, before their bodies give these tiny jerks, before the cloaks of light wash them out for a second, two, three, before thinning into nothing but air and leaving them without a glow.

Baekhyun pulls out a blade of sorts from his pocket – or at least that's what it looks like from where Kyungsoo is – and works on cutting the rope binding Professor Kwon's wrists. And Kyungsoo shifts his gaze to the scene unfolding right in front of him, to Chanyeol and Jongdae’s figures glowing for one last time before the energy gives out and yields two orbs – one a bright red, and the other a deep blue. From the orbs stem whips of light, sculpting figures, bodies that tower both Rockets lying on the ground, almost reaching the base of the black hole and casting shadows on the ground. He _knows_ these shapes, Kyungsoo muses, these figures by heart, has seen them both in text books and posters and action figures _and in real life_ before. Granted, he's only caught a glimpse of Kyogre when the tidal wave washed over Sinyuk-ri, but the truth remains. If there are two legendary Pokemon whose forms he'll be able to make sense of from miles away, it's Groudon and Kyogre. It's these two Pokemon bursting from their cocoons of light right now, roaring and growling into the skies before looking around them to survey the area.

The ground beneath them shakes. A heartbeat, then Kyungsoo sees Jongdae trying to get up from the ground, trying to push himself up but ending plummeting back to the surface in a huff. "How did– How did he–"

"We shut down your red crystals," Kyungsoo answers, then gestures for his Pokemon to come closer. Excadrill shivers a little, not quite used to Groudon and Kyogre just yet. Gardevoir gives both legendary Pokemon a long, thorough look, as if studying them and trying to see what it is that makes itself and even Kyungsoo feel so uncomfortable seeing both Groudon and Kyogre like this. Both Pokemon are glowing in the same light they'd come from, bright lines drawn along the length of their bodies and between the gaps of their scales where there used to be gaps covered only by shadows. And their eyes are aflame. Kyungsoo can see it now, the faint glow Soojung was talking about earlier when she mentioned both Kyogre and Groudon seemingly locked in a different form, possibly even going through mega evolution. He can _feel_ the power spilling from the tips of Groudon's claws as it reaches out to guide Chanyeol back to his feet with a gentle lift of the finger. "How you merged with the legendary Pokemon, I don't know–"

"DNA splicers," Chanyeol answers, croaks out when Groudon lifts him off the ground by the tip of its claw. "A piece of technology _way beyond our time_ because people are too fucking scared to even test these new gadgets–"

"–and I don't want to know exactly how you did it," Kyungsoo rushes. He looks away when Groudon pulls Chanyeol further up, until he's at the Pokemon's eye level. If he were in Chanyeol's shoes, just feet away from where Groudon can just toss him inside its mouth and eat him up, he'd probably apologizing for everything including the sins he didn't even do, but then he isn't. He isn't Chanyeol. And Chanyeol isn't even muttering a word, just fighting off Groudon and kicking at the air in an attempt to make the Pokemon put him down on the ground. To make Groudon _obey him._ "But there's just one thing that I want you to do – set both Groudon and Kyogre free so you won't have to suffer Rayquaza's wrath."

"Kid–" Jongdae says, snorting and chuckling as he tries to snap up straight, to find his balance again. Kyogre gives him a nudge, but if anything it only drags Jongdae across the rough floor instead of carrying him to safety. "Look. Just... Just _shut up._ You can't see the bigger picture. You don't _understand_ why we're doing this, why we've been gathering all these legendary Pokemon in one place so we can give them a home while we try to help them reach their fullest potential." Jongdae guides himself up on his arms again, knees digging into the rough soil beneath them this time around, but soon Kyogre interrupts him with another push, much stronger than before and almost making Jongdae skid all the way up to the edge of the cliff. "And these legendary Pokemon _may not understand now_ why we've been doing all these things for them but I'm sure, I'm a hundred percent sure that once they get used to this new state, their... mega evolved state – yes, these legendary Pokemon _can_ mega evolve – then I'm sure they'll be grateful for all our hard work."

"Hard work? _Hard work?_ " Kyungsoo leans back a little, squints his eyes, shakes his head as he marvels at the two trainers, the two Rocket executives in front of him. Then he points to his side, dragging his arm in an arc, spanning the destruction that Team Rocket has brought upon their land. "You call this hard work? You say that you've been working hard to unleash these Pokemon's full potential through mega evolution? You say you're just trying to help them?" He scoffs, shakes his head. _Laughs_ at how ridiculous it all sounds coming from him, and even more coming from Jongdae. "Didn't you ever _think_ that the legendaries were made that way for a reason? A purpose? That they are happy with how they are and they've accepted who they are capable of becoming–"

"See, this is the problem with humans. You're all such pushovers. You're weak," Jongdae says, interrupting. He's back of his feet now, inches away from the cliff, but if Kyungsoo really wanted to then he could have already asked Gardevoir to push Jongdae off the ledge second ago. Instead, he tells his Gardevoir, try to reach Kyogre and Groudon. Tell them to stop the rains and the intense heat just beyond the barrier before Rayquaza even comes down from the heavens. Tell them to stop so that Team Rocket won’t find any success in their plans and will _know_ just how much pain they’ve caused everyone in the country, in their world, because of their silly quest for _perfection._

"You're all so... complacent. And you want your Pokemon to be just like you little twerps. _You don't have to evolve for me, little Treecko! You don't have to change because I'll always love you–_ " Jongdae thins his voice into something high, screechy, _irritating._ Kyungsoo shivers in thoughtless response. "Even if the man back in Insadong's already given me a mega evolution stone for my Sceptile, I won't use it because it's _already fucking strong and my Sceptile is okay with the strength it already has–_ Bullshit. Bullshit, all of those!" Jongdae stomps on the ground, and Kyogre shifts its gaze from looking out into the open, at the scene unfolding just behind them. Beside Kyungsoo, he feels Gardevoir's body give a tiny jerk, like it has just taken a blow to the gut or to any other part of its body. He looks to his side, then, risking a glance at his Pokemon before Jongdae continues to say, "You should want your Pokemon to get even stronger! You should urge them to be the very best they can be! But _no,_ you weak humans don't want that because then your Pokemon will overpower you and you won't be able to control them anymore, won't be able to slave 'em around and make them do all sorts of things that Pokemon aren't even supposed to be doing."

Around them, the air thins. Kyungsoo can still feel sharp slices of wind against his skin, can still feel the way the whips of wind lick his limbs and leave a dull ache there, but they aren't blowing as strongly as before. He can't feel his hair in his face anymore, or the sand sticking to his ankles or the tattered hem of his pants or in his eyes. He can see better now even with the lenses of his glasses littered with nothing but scratches. The skies are still dim, but there's a sliver of light peeking from up above.

He cranes his neck to check on Baekhyun and Professor Kwon, trying to see what they're doing, but Groudon's blocking most of the view and the two are hunched over something Kyungsoo can't seem to make out just yet. So he cranes his neck, tries his best to shift between looking at Jongdae and studying what the two are doing with minimal movements. Keeps a hand on both Excadrill and Gardevoir so that they'll know what they should do even before he calls out the attacks.

"But do they want that?" he asks. "Do they want the extra power?"

Chanyeol snorts, rolls his eyes. Shakes his head like Kyungsoo'd just asked the most ridiculous question in the world. "Who doesn't want power, though? Shouldn't that be the ultimate goal of man? To be better than everyone else, to constantly outsmart everyone?" He breathes out, blows at his bangs, then lets out a soft snort again and he leans back against Groudon, the Pokemon's hot, blazing skin not even making Chanyeol flinch. "Don't we all want to be the most powerful in the world?"

No, Kyungsoo wants to say. Right now, there's nothing he wants more than to take a long, warm bath, then lounge on his couch soon after. He wants to see Sunyoung, Soojung, Minseok, and Yoochun safe and sound at the foot of the mountain. He wants all of them to go back to the city and celebrate. He wants to have a sumptuous dinner with his friends then drink with them until the fire they've made just a few meters from the shore goes out. He wants to tell Seungsoo everything that he’s gone through in this crazy journey of his, maybe even hold his brother tight and tell him that he really, really, really misses Seungsoo’s shitty cooking. He wants to feel so buzzed that kissing Baekhyun out in the open won't feel like doing a somersault on a tightrope or bungee jumping off a cliff.

He just wants to go home.

The ground starts shaking again. Kyungsoo braces himself, gripping his knees tight and crouching low even before the quakes before stronger. "That's what trainers like you do to avoid quakes," Chanyeol tells him, then, giving him a once over before resting a palm flat on Groudon's side. "Whereas trainers like _us_ are the ones that create quakes. So who's stronger now, huh? Who's the better trainer?" Then he looks over his shoulder, the wicked grin he'd been wearing for the past minute of two still gleaming on his lips when he calls out to Professor Kwon to say, "Who gets the higher grade now, huh, prof? Who's your favorite? Who's making you proud and not giving you a– _What the hell_ are you doing?"

Kyungsoo has two options – either he stays here to attack Kyogre and Groudon with his Pokemon, coaxing his Gardevoir to mega evolve so he can hit harder with Gardevoir's attacks, or he heads straight to where Baekhyun and Professor Kwon are to help out with whatever they are doing, whatever they are _chanting_ under their breaths. It sounds familiar, though, from the rhythm of the words to the syllables to the accent they place on the important words. Too familiar, in fact, that he finds himself mouthing some of the words and bobbing is head to the its rhythm. The plan was to steal Chanyeol and Jongdae’s key stones to mega evolution from their arm bands, to snatch them from the two even before both trainers can regain control over their legendary Pokemon but something about the way Professor Kwon says, "We come to you, oh Rayquaza, as humble servants of your land," something about the way she lifts her hands up in the air and tilts her chin up, reciting the prayer from memory, makes Kyungsoo feel as if there's no need sneak up on the two trainers anymore. The skies are getting darker and _oh,_ there it is again, the winds slapping their faces, but the air doesn't feel so thin anymore. And there's a strange mix of cold and warmth in the way the breeze curls around Kyungsoo's nape, caressing his skin and making him breathe out a bit more easily.

"Stop that–" Chanyeol calls out, turning around to run back to the very peak of the mountains, but both the winds and Excadrill prevent him from doing so. Excadrill runs after Chanyeol, then pins the Chanyeol to the ground by pressing the sharp blade along its arm close to his throat. Over Excadrill's shoulder, Kyungsoo sees Jongdae telling Kyogre to launch a powerful Hydro Pump, but soon Gardevoir's teleporting right behind Excadrill, summoning a powerful blast of violet light that sends Kyogre skidding across the ground and crushing rocks beneath its weight. The chanting's becoming louder now, much, much louder, but he can't hear Baekhyun's voice anymore. The only tone he can make out now is that of Professor Kwon's, her voice soaring above Chanyeol's strangled cries and Jongdae's grunts as he pushes himself up on his feet again, her words ringing in Kyungsoo’s ears and making him shiver all over.

Light filters from above, painting Professor Kwon in yellow streaks as she chants the prayer, eyes closed as she tilts her head up high even more. The winds begin to pick up, kicking dust off the ground yet again and making them stick to Kyungsoo's skin, but Kyungsoo doesn't mind. He can't even tear his gaze from the sight, can't bring himself to look away from Professor Kwon who is being washed out in a bright, bright light but won't stop saying the prayer in a loud, loud voice. The only thing he can hear beyond Professor Kwon's voice is Gardevoir's thoughts at the very back of his mind, telling him, whispering, _she's doing it. She can actually summon the sky god. Kyungsoo, we have to keep the others distracted. We have to keep her safe–_

"Excadrill, Drill Run on Groudon, _now!_ " he calls out, screaming at the top of his voice even as his throat clenches at the strain. To Gardevoir, he says, "Hyper Voice on Kyogre! Give it all you've got!"

He takes a deep breath and brings his right hand close to his chest, then cranes his neck a little in an attempt to meet Baekhyun's gaze. Baekhyun doesn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, eyes a bit unfocused as he flits his gaze from Groudon to Kyogre to _Kyungsoo,_ but his shoulders do lift when their eyes meet. Kyungsoo nods, then, just a gentle bob of the head, hoping that the little gesture will be able to thin the distance between them. They either have all the time in the world or they don't have time at all – the moment Professor Kwon _does_ successfully summon Rayquaza is the moment they stop worrying about these two weather gods; the moment Professor Kwon shows the slightest hint of a struggle is the moment they know that they'll have to buy her more time, try to distract the two other trainers even more.

He curls his fingers into a loose fist on the left side of his chest, then shifts his eyes to where Gardevoir is launching one Hyper Voice onto Kyogre when he sees Baekhyun mimicking the action. He sees a flash of light, then, coming from both his ring and Baekhyun's own, blinding him for a quick second before the light goes out. Camerupt lets out a loud roar that stuns both Groudon and Kyogre right after, a ground-shaking sound that makes even Kyungsoo shiver despite the distance between them. Heck, even Groudon is shivering at the tremors, at Excadrill who is running towards it, Kyungsoo’s own Pokemon undeterred by the movement of the ground, preparing to launch another attack at the legendary Pokemon.

On the other side of the field, Kyogre is looking over its shoulder, frozen for a quick second then recovering just half a heartbeat later with water foaming at the corners of its lips. So Kyungsoo capitalizes on that narrow window of opportunity, holding his balled fist in front of his chest and pressing two fingers flat on the gem in the ring even before Kyogre can launch an attack at his Pokemon. "Gardevoir, mega evolve!" he screams at the same time that Baekhyun orders his Camerupt to undergo mega evolution, but all the sounds ringing in his ears dissolve into silence when he sees Gardevoir lifts its hands in the air, when Gardevoir becomes clothed in a thick blanket of white. He can feel it now, the ripping sensation clawing at his skin, the walls of his throat, in his stomach. The loud, thundering pulse at the back of his ears as he sees flashes of all the memories they've formed with each other – sailing out into the sea with no one else but Ralts, just needing a break from the world and the shores that bore witness to two boys kissing; taking that first step out of Mokpo-si after receiving his trainer license from Professor Kwon. Going through mega evolution for the very first time back in Chuncheon-si as Gardevoir helped him try to stop a rampaging Snorlax. All these things coming back to him as soon as the spark of mega evolution is ignited and Gardevoir bursts into the most beautiful flames, bathed in light.

Then the rays soften, soon dissipating at the same time that Kyungsoo's insides stop turning. He breathes out, then, when he sees Gardevoir shake off the last dregs of mega evolution, as it stretches out its hands and looks to its side to meet Kyungsoo in the eye.

A few meters away, he sees Baekhyun nodding at his Camerupt and telling it to help Gardevoir out. Swampert's ahead of them by leaps and bounds, already rushing to Excadrill's side to help out. Two Pokemon for the two that Kyungsoo has out. Four Pokemon he's seen grow through the years, from the little critters that they were before – when he and Baekhyun had just picked their starter Pokemon, when he caught Drilbur just before falling prey to the time and space shift – to this moment when they’re already grown up, have already outgrown their timid ways as Pokemon nourished by the sea and have grown into strong Pokemon willing to help their trainers.

He takes a deep breath. Shuts his eyes for the last time, then clears his mind as he tries to reach Gardevoir. Hyper Voice again, he orders, but this time he doesn't voice it out. Gardevoir even beats him to focusing on that lone idea, sending out a stream of powerful sounds enough to push Kyogre down to the ground again and earning a sharp cry in response even before Kyungsoo can speak. He ducks at the force of the attack, grips his knees tight, braces himself – for the shaking of the ground or for the winds to slap him hard on the face on the face again and again, he can't tell yet. All he knows right now is that he can see the small upward curl on the corners of Gardevoir's lips, that he can see the ease in which Gardevoir slides from one part of the field to another. That Groudon is so, so close to falling to the ground after Excadrill launches a forceful attack on the legendary land Pokemon, and that Swampert’s pushing itself off the ground with its tail to land a powerful Waterfall attack at Groudon to seal the deal.

Synchronicity. _Teamwork._ Kyungsoo gulps down hard at the same time that Baekhyun cheers for Swampert, telling it to use Aqua Jet when Groudon motions to get up. “Don’t let it fight back! Keep going, Swampert!"

"Excadrill, keep Groudon pinned to the ground!"

He only catches a glimpse of Baekhyun cocking an eyebrow at him from a corner of his eye, but he does hear the crack in Baekhyun's voice when Baekhyun switches to Camerupt, telling it to use Solar Beam on Kyogre. He cranes his neck and that's when he sees it, Kyogre charging towards Camerupt as a wave begins to spill from the corners of its mouth. _Hydro Pump, maybe?_ a voice at the back of his mind wonders, but now is not the time to be thinking too much or too little. Now is not the time to be second-guessing oneself. So he goes with his gut, listens to Gardevoir's tiny voice at the back of his mind and tells his Pokemon, "Defense, Gardevoir! Build a barrier around Camerupt then use Hyper Voice on that Kyogre!" Gardevoir follows without question, screaming at the top of its lungs before releasing a bright wave of purple aura from its hands. Kyogre manages to release a stream of water, trying to get through the barrier and _shit,_ Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, _the fucker might even get through, but–_

"And– _now!_ " Baekhyun screams, eyebrows furrowed as he lunges in Kyogre's direction.

Camerupt lifts its head to the skies, then releases a bright beam of light from above. Kyungsoo shields himself from the bright light, squints in an effort to _still_ keep track of what's happening, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to see anything beyond the thick sheet of white wrapping around the scene. He looks away, then, shifting his gaze to his sides to – see how Excadrill and Swampert are faring, to find Chanyeol, to check if Jongdae's managed to reach Professor Kwon at the podium where she's chanting a prayer, maybe all of those all at once. To look over his shoulder and see what's happening on the other side of the barrier where Kyogre and Groudon have left bits and pieces of destruction before merging with Jongdae and Chanyeol. To see if they're actually making progress in this whole 'saving the world' thing and if they're inching closer to fulfilling their mission.

He spots a crack in the barrier a few feet away, just a small dent no more than a few inches in length, but still enough to distort the perfect world on this side of the barrier, somehow, and let some of the destruction on the other side seep in. Then he feels the ground beneath them shake another time, feels rocks and sand scratch the sides of his arms as the pillars around them fall to the ground one by one. They dissipate into fine red particles even before they crash, though, disintegrate into red dust and hang suspended in the air all around them. He feels a familiar shiver crawl up his spine when he hears Kyogre roaring – in anguish, in pain, maybe even in desperation? He can't tell. He just knows he can't hear anything from Gardevoir at the back of his mind, can't hear a shiver in Gardevoir's voice or sense a stutter in its actions.

He looks back at that fight, then, squinting as he tries to see past the blanket of white pushing him farther from where Gardevoir and Camerupt are. He can only make out silhouette's but– _Hah,_ he almost blurts out, pressing his lips together in a thin line when he sees Gardevoir figure through the cloud of white, dashing from behind Camerupt and jumping off the Pokemon's back to aim a flurry of light red beams at Kyogre. A more powerful Hyper Voice that he's never seen before.

A loud thud on the ground, and he sees Kyogre slowly losing its glow. It's still hanging on, though, the lines of light scoring along its scales only dimming instead of going out completely. Even Groudon has lost a lot of energy, now down on the ground on one knee. He can still see the fire in Groudon's eyes, can still sense its power even in the tiny quakes of the ground all around them, but that's about it – he can't even feel the same lurching sensation that he used to get whenever he saw legendary Pokemon and was forced to go up against them. And the scars on his knees don't feel like little whips hitting him with pangs of pain; they feel like dull aches in the gut from laughing too hard.

The powerful whip of wind strikes him from behind, almost making him fall forward. He manages to stay on his feet, though, just grips his knees tight and takes a deep breath as the winds blow much, much stronger than before, as another series of explosions coming from below reaches his ears. He shivers a little, then, and runs his palms up and down his arms. Wiggles his fingers as he tries to stay thawed out. It's getting even colder, much more where Baekhyun and Professor Kwon are. Much, much colder, in fact, that the next attack that Kyogre aims at both Gardevoir and Camerupt end up suspending in the air and freezing into tiny shards, glowing a beautiful shade of blue. "Fuck–" he hears Baekhyun blurt out a few meters away, hears Baekhyun exclaim again when the winds blow another time, this time against their faces. Now _this_ feels like taking two, three Hyper Voices to the gut without any chance of survival, he muses. It feels like having to link with Gardevoir to make his Pokemon mega evolve five battles in a row, each only five minutes apart. And it feels like having to go out on a mission just when he's come home from one.

He seethes at the dull ache in his back when he feels it crawling up his nape. It stuns him for a quick second. The next thing he knows, the thick sheet of white's getting sucked into a hole – the black hole hovering them where he'd seen Dialga, Palkia, and the Lake Trio earlier – and revealing Groudon back up on its feet but scared all over, unveiling Kyogre lying flat on the ground but with eyes still aflame. A deep breath and Kyungsoo lifts his gaze up to where Baekhyun and Professor Kwon are – to where she _used to be_ now that she's–

"Off the ground," he whispers. Shakes his head. Widens his eyes, blinks, leans closer to see if he's imagining things, but _no._ Professor Kwon _is_ two feet off the ground, arms still lifted up high and her mouth still moving to the rhythm of the summoning prayer for Rayquaza.

Another violent whip of the winds, then the darkness lifts once and for all. There's still a thin film of the barrier Team Rocket had built earlier, but for the most part the skies are clear and Kyungsoo can _hear_ the sound of the pouring rain, the rumbling of the ground on the other side of the shield. And he can feel the push and pull of warmth and cold from the extreme weather prickle his skin, tickle a shiver out of him as he straightens up and inches closer to where Baekhyun and Professor Kwon are. He slips between Gardevoir and Kyogre who's lying on the ground, then gives Camerupt a pat on the back – just a quick touch, fearing to get burnt by the lava streaming from the mouth of the volcano on Camerupt's back. From where he is now, just feet away from the pinnacle of the mountains, he can see the scene better – Professor Kwon being lifted even higher, Baekhyun's hair all over his face as he reaches out to Kyungsoo to pull him up to the flat surface. Dialga and Palkia with their eyes fixed on Professor Kwon, while the Lake Trio stay in a tight loop, tails intertwined, all of these through the thin glass on their side of the barrier, reflecting what's happening _inside_ the black hole.

"She's a Draconid," Baekhyun whispers, leaning even closer until their bodies touch, until his chest is pressed to Kyungsoo's arm. Kyungsoo takes a deep, violent breath at the first contact, at the surge of warmth. It feels so, so different from the warmth that the red crystals bring, or even from the tongues of flame coming from Groudon's attacks that licked the sides of his arms, the back of his hands. It almost feels as if they're on the other side of the barrier, once again human and prone to every single danger that they've come to recognize growing up in _their world._ It feels like a breath of fresh air after being caged in a dingy place for so long. It feels like being alive. "I keep forgetting– They kept mentioning it whenever she was on TV for battles – _Kwon Boa of the Draconian Race_. I mean–" He laughs, shakes his head. Even smacks his forehead with his palm. "She was _everywhere!_ She was one of those dragon tamers who didn't stick to just using dragon-type Pokemon–"

There are some things that you miss when you get used to them, Kyungsoo almost says. Things like Kyungsoo sticking around longer than the usual, ditching homework in favor of letting Baekhyun talk about how miserable his day was and 'how Baekbeom-hyung screwed up the jjigae again, I mean, _how do you even get that wrong?'_ Things like the hitch of Kyungsoo's breath when Baekhyun pressed their lips together in a juvenile kiss, like the way Kyungsoo titled his head back a little to see, just to see, if Baekhyun was willing to chase after him. Things like Kyungsoo always, always, _always_ heading outside after dinner to train his Pokemon at the back of the Pokemon Center even if he'd spent the whole day training his partners because Baekhyun hung out there often, if not all the time. Little things, Kyungsoo mused, like the quirk of Baekhyun's lips now, or the way he cocks an eyebrow oh-so-slightly, like he's just caught Kyungsoo delving into 'one of those trances' again, like he isn't sure if he wants to pull Kyungsoo out of it with a snap of a finger or a kiss, or if he just wants to watch the way Kyungsoo's muscles move as the realization that he's being watched dawns upon him in three, two, one–

“A Sylveon. She _has a Sylveon–_ " Kyungsoo says, laughing a little. He then guides his gaze up to where Professor Kwon has inched even closer the black hole. He can still feel the heavy thumping in his chest, can still hear the thundering pulse at the back of his ears and _feel it_ in the hollow cavity of his chest. And it gets stronger as he marvels at Professor Kwon. The winds are blowing against her eyes, but she hasn't lost control over her limbs. Neither a part of her body is blown away by the wind, and nor is a strand of her hair swayed by the winds wrapping around them. And she's smiling. It's difficult to see past the bridge of her nose, but Kyungsoo can make out the upward pull on the corners of her lips, the way they spill over to her cheeks. The way she's enunciating every word, every syllable with utmost care like every sound holds so much meaning for her. "And Sylveon’s ribbons were known to… end wars between dragon races in the past. Sylveon has the power to _tame_ dragons and even the wildest of creatures."

"It makes sense." Baekhyun huffs, shivers, wiggles his hands in his sides then balls them into loose fists. His hands are shaking and his teeth are chattering a little, yet he presses on, saying, "It all makes sense now. And when she was still in the League–"

“She used all sorts of dragons – Dragonite, Salamence, Goodra, _Garchomp–_ That one was her favorite. The one with the brightest star on its forehead." Kyungsoo laughs at that, snorts. It always was a joke between himself, Baekhyun, and Sunyoung, how Garchomp brandished a gold star on its head for being a good boy like most children. So when Baekhyun got a gold star _for the very first time_ because he helped one of their classmates look for her missing Cleffa and Clefairy, they laughed at him for a good five minutes because, "You worship the champion that much?" Then they applauded him for his kindness minutes after, once Baekhyun had ceased slapping them on the arm, his cheeks flushed from recognition. It wasn't everyday that Baekhyun was keen on accepting praise, after all. They had to make it memorable, somehow. "Can't believe we missed it."

"We're saving the world. We've been 'dimension-hopping'." Baekhyun fingers freeze halfway through him trying to make double quotes in the air. He kicks Kyungsoo in the calf when Kyungsoo laughs at that. "And now we're about to see Rayquaza in the flesh, so–"

In the flesh means feeling the winds around them gain speed, kicking off dust from the floor and almost sending them crashing to the ground. Professor Kwon still hasn't come down from where she's lifted off the surface, but Kyungsoo can see her arms shaking, can see her eyebrows furrowing a little, can hear the breaks in her voice as she powers through one more string of praises for Rayquaza. The clouds part, then, revealing a long green tail descending from the heavens, lined with thin red strips along the edges. There are yellow marks on its skin, much like the ones on Kyogre and Groudon's bodies, but it looks _different._ The body isn't glowing, not giving off that same aura that Pokemon that have gone through mega evolution give off. Is it really Rayquaza, he asks himself. Is _this_ the Rayquaza that can help them make Kyogre and Groudon repent for the destruction they've brought forth upon the land, for letting Team Rocket fuse with them?

"Groudon looks creepier," he hears Baekhyun whisper beside him. He'd shake his head and disagree if he could, but then he thinks the same. He only lets out a low hum in agreement. "And it's not– This isn't a mega evolved form of Rayquaza, right?"

"Not yet," comes Jongdae's voice from behind, like he'd just read Baekhyun's mind. Kyungsoo shudders, then, and looks over his shoulder as soon as he picks up on the sound. Jongdae's still a few good meters away, separated from them by the expanse of Kyogre's body shivering on the ground, but already Kyungsoo can hear the lilts in Jongdae's voice, the music in it when Jongdae says, "The sky god in it's purest form – _ah,_ such a sight to behold. But I'm afraid this won't do. You're just too weak like this, Rayquaza. You won't be able to do shit even if you tried." Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows at that, leans back, narrows his eyes at Jongdae as if saying, you _don't_ talk to a god Pokemon like that. You don't talk to your only chance of salvation like you're not glad you're basking in its presence. _Show some respect._ "Why don't you reveal your true form to us, hmm? Why don't you show us the real meaning of mega evolution?"

"The real _what?_ " Baekhyun blurts out, cocking his head to the side. "What d'you mean– _I mean,_ I get it, Rayquaza can mega evolve as well since these two can, but what do you mean 'the real meaning of mega evolution'?"

Kyungsoo gulps down hard. He can still recall one of their lectures back when they were younger, about where Pokemon stay when trainers aren't calling upon them for help. "Just think of... tiny houses. Yes, there are tiny houses inside Pokeballs," he recalls one of his teachers saying. He recalls laughing at that, as well, because who the hell will even buy that? They all know that Pokeballs are empty shells, capsules. But what they don't know is that Pokemon have the capacity to dream up a world of their own and rest there until such time that their trainer asks for their help.

"And then there are other Pokemon that live... elsewhere. Among us. Some of those Pokemon are your Meowths, Rattata, Rapidash, Growlithe. There are a lot of them. Some live in the seas, the mountains, under huge rocks – _you name it!_ And there are those who live in outerspace, guardians that look over us and keep us safe from upcoming attacks by things we cannot control."

"You mean," Sunyoung'd said then, scratching her nape. "There are Pokemon in the galaxy, teacher? But... how do we catch them?"

"We don't," their professor said, smiling. Then she took a deep breath and breathed out a long exhale. Kyungsoo can still recall the way he inched closer in anticipation, the way Baekhyun couldn't stop swinging his legs in exchange for all the words he wasn't saying. "So we just pray to them and ask them to keep us safe, no matter what. We pray that they keep us away from harm and to bless our lands with bountiful harvest and to give us long life. That we won’t be consumed by the bad the way that they _shouldn’t be consumed by power,_ because we all know what too much power can do to people, to Pokemon, right?"

Jongdae shakes his head now and heaves a sigh at them, clicking his tongue as he ends. "Clueless creatures," he murmurs, then he's inching closer, thinning the space between them to just a few meters, arms still crossed over his chest. "Rayquaza _is_ the meteorite that hits our planet once a decade. It's the Pokemon's silent way of keeping watch over us, showering us with blessings, making sure that the human race is safe from themselves. And what have we been giving it in return? Weird prayers, chants, _enchantments._ Silly attempts at magic that don't even mean a thing?" Jongdae laughs, then presses the back of his hand to his lips when the sound makes Groudon grunt, when it makes Kyogre twitch on the ground. "But enough with those – the meteorite that Rayquaza carries with it contains the most powerful energy that has the ability to draw more power out of Pokemon. It has the ability to flick a switch in them that will–"

"Lead them to a path of self-actualization," Kyungsoo mutters, breathing out in a huff. He swallows hard around the lump in his throat, then adds, "The mega stones – all of them are part of–"

"One massive meteorite that is the creature you're marvelling at right now," Chanyeol finishes, pushing himself back up on his feet. He seethes a little, shivers. If Kyungsoo squints even harder then he'll see the red marks on Chanyeol's cheeks, his arms, his legs, but the winds surrounding them, stemming from the god of the skies, itself, keeps him from seeing things clearly. "Rayquaza is the first known Pokemon to have mega evolved. Rayquaza _is_ mega evolution." Then he takes a deep breath, the corners of his mouth pulling up in a soft, subtle smile. He's shining in this light, Kyungsoo muses. It's almost as if Chanyeol – and Jongdae, who looks like he's glowing as he watches Rayquaza descend from the heavens – is being reborn. It almost makes Kyungsoo throw up.

Jongdae takes a deep breath and lets his shoulders slump forward at the same time that Rayquaza shakes off the cloak of light enveloping its body. Kyungsoo can see it more clearly now, Rayquaza's yellow eyes, the patterns on its body similar to that of the one on Kyogre's and Groudon's own when they were still in their normal forms, untouched by Team Rocket. And he can see the fire in Rayquaza's eyes, the fury in the way it furrows its eyebrows and lets out a thundering roar. "Rayquaza is the most powerful Pokemon in the entire world."

No, Arceus is, part of him wants to argue, but Rayquaza gives him no time to think, much less to breathe. Soon, Rayquaza's opening it's mouth, summoning forth a beam of energy and firing it in their direction. Kyungsoo ducks to his side, crouching low and pressing his palms to the ground to maintain balance. All the Pokemon on the field manage to dodge, save for Camerupt who has collapsed to the ground, crying out in pain. "Camerupt–" Kyungsoo hears Baekhyun say, then, hears Baekhyun scream out before scrambling to get to where his Pokemon is, but then Rayquaza fires off another attack, one after another, too fast that Kyungsoo doesn't even think of dodging anymore or even deflecting attacks. They _need_ to calm Rayquaza down. It's the only way to survive. Then he hears a shrill cry from a few feet away, sees Professor Kwon close to dropping to the ground, eyes wide and limbs frozen. He slides forward, then, trying to endure the stinging pain in his knees caused by the scraping of the rocks on his skin, and trying to at least soften Professor Kwon’s fall a little.

"It's not just mad,” Professor Kwon whispers, says between chokes coughing. “It’s… It's going ballistic.” She tries to peel herself off of Kyungsoo, shifting in her position so she can get back on her feet. She's not carrying that glow anymore, the same glow she'd worn earlier while she was summoning the god of the skies, her skin now littered with red marks and scars and gashes from the winds. But she seems undeterred. Tired, yes, with the way she slumps her shoulders, but by no means not determined to make Rayquaza calm down. Her voice is firm and steel as she says, "We can pacify it, though. I'm pretty sure we can. We just have to–" Then she pushes herself up, one hand on the floor and the other on her knee, but soon she's crashing back to the ground, limbs too weak, energy all used up. She clicks her tongue, shakes her head. Seethes when she hears the crack in her voice as she says, "We need to find a counter to Rayquaza. We need to–"

Kyungsoo sucks in his bottom lip. "Arceus is the only one that can match its power," he says, heaving a sigh. He tries to go through everything he's learned back in school and in his journey, tries to recall statistics, data, information on the power of legendary Pokemon, if there’s any other legendary creature that can stand toe to toe with Rayquaza at the height of its anger, but to no avail – only Arceus, the creator, can ever make Rayquaza stand down. It's the only Pokemon known to man that can pacify a legendary Pokemon – the root of all mega evolutions – and tame it to return to its calmest state.

"How do you even summon the god of all gods–" She laughs, but her voice is shaking along with her bottom lip. And she's breathing out a low and long exhale. She shakes her head, balls her hands into fists, slams one on the ground. It makes Kyungsoo’s insides turn, then _lurch_ when Professor Kwon groans out loud at the same time that Rayquaza lets out another cry. Rayquaza looks as if it’s charging its power for another attack with the way it leans back and opens its mouth wide, a ball of purple energy forming at the center. This is different attack, Kyungsoo notes – a different and possibly more powerful attack – as he watches the purple light wrapped around Rayquaza dissipate, turning into something lighter, _brighter._ They are blinding white rays akin to that of the light Rayquaza was cocooned in before revealing its form, the same light that Groudon burst from when Chanyeol summoned it back in the cave. _The same light_ that enveloped Kyogre earlier when it launched a powerful water-type attack that would have hit Camerupt if not for Gardevoir putting up a shield between Kyogre and Baekhyun's Pokemon.

"No," Professor Kwon says, voice thinning into faint laughter. "We don't need– I summoned Rayquaza to bring _peace_ to the land, not to–"

Not to mega evolve, Kyungsoo finishes at the back of his mind as he lets out a breathy exhale. He drops his hands to his sides. From where he is, he can see Baekhyun inching even closer to Camerupt. Gardevoir has just teleported to where the two are, checking their condition like it has read Kyungsoo’s mind even before the worry could settle in his nerves. A few meters away, Excadrill and Swampert are looking in Rayquaza's direction, both Pokemon sporting scars on their faces from the explosion Rayquaza has caused. Jongdae and Chanyeol are pressed so close together, side to side, and from where Kyungsoo is he _thinks_ he can see them linking their pinkies together. And they may be at different points of the pinnacle, but all of them are looking at Rayquaza whose tail has grown longer, whose fangs and horns are now glistening in thick ropes of gold. Rayquaza stands tall above them and lets out a mighty roar, gold teeth glimmering in the blinding light. It would be easy to just sit there and marvel at the legendary Pokemon or even drop to their knees and worship Rayquaza, but a single voice loops at the back of Kyungsoo's mind as he studies Rayquaza's body, the fire in its eyes, the flames spurting from the sides of its mouth, fading out into a light blue – the perfect flame. And the voice is screaming at him, saying, _run, run now, run while you still can_ as Rayquaza saunters closer, leaning in Professor Kwon's direction.

Slowly, Kyungsoo gets up on his knees, then offers Professor Kwon a hand. “I think Rayquaza wants to talk to you," he tells her. Professor Kwon nods in responds then tries to reach out, but soon she’s wincing at the stretch. So Kyungsoo moves even closer, crouches a little, tries not to wince when he feels the sting of all the cuts on his knees claw at him. He guides the professor back to her feet and helps her move closer to the legendary Pokemon. Rayquaza stops in its tracks, then, the moment Professor Kwon looks at it with wide eyes, the moment Professor Kwon reaches out to touch, to press a hand on Rayquaza’s tail like she’s testing the waters, trying to see if she can tame this one, the wildest of them all. Part of Kyungsoo wants to scream and just tell her to withdraw her hand even before Rayquaza can do anything to her, but part of him feels a bit light. His throat no longer feels tight and dry and the knot in his chest has loosened, somehow, just by watching Rayquaza quell the attack it had been charging earlier at the first contact with Professor Kwon.

"Rayquaza, I–" She clears her throat, shakes her head. Rayquaza hasn't moved, hasn't budged an inch, hasn't even shifted its gaze to anything, anyone else. If Kyungsoo squints hard enough, maybe he'll see Professor Kwon reflected in Rayquaza's eyes, but he sees nothing but a vacant expression in Rayquaza's features. He can see wisps of color emanating from the legendary Pokemon's body, slithering all the way up until close to Rayquaza’s hands, but that’s it – there’s no hint of anger, wrath, sympathy, compassion in Rayquaza’s features. There’s no telling what can and will happen to all of them, to this world, now that Rayquaza has awakened and slipped into its mega evolved form.

What are you even expecting of a legendary Pokemon, he asks himself – mercy? Even Arceus didn’t show mercy, only a sense of justice to right all the wrongs that all the Pokemon did. Even the creator of all Pokemon showed not a tinge of emotion as it cleansed the land, purged it of evil. _So stop hoping for a miracle,_ he tells himself. _Just think of a way, any way, to summon Arceus or at least communicate with it. You're good at luring legendary Pokemon in, right?_

He blinks a few times, then drops is gaze to the glass on the surface. The image inside, _on the other side,_ has turned into a thick blanket of darkness and nothing else, but from time to time he can still see traces of blue, pink, and yellow. Maybe if he strains his eyesight, he'll be able to see the figure of the Lake Trio's tails, or Dialga and Palkia's bodies. Maybe if he looks hard enough, he'll be able to find Giratina who has always been known to have a stronger bond with Arceus than the temporal and spatial Pokemon. _The Prodigal Son –_ that was what people always called Giratina. It was the member of the creation trio that Arceus kept a close eye on the most. So he takes a small step back, and another, and another, hoping that the slight change in perspective can allow him to see a flash of hope.

"Wait a second. What–" Jongdae raises a hand and storms to where Rayquaza is. Professor Kwon doesn't tear her glance from the legendary Pokemon at first, doesn’t even drop her hand from where she's holding Rayquaza by the tip of its lower horn. Not until Jongdae reaches them and wraps his fingers around her wrist, yanking her hand away from the legendary Pokemon. Rayquaza looks to its side, then, tilts its head a little, and gives Jongdae a long look from head to toe. “Hang on. We– _We're_ the ones who worked hard to summon Rayquaza,” Jongdae protests, "This place, this _temple,_ we built this for Rayquaza. How come it's approaching you and not either of us?"

"Because I'm a Draconid?" Professor Kwon answers, scoffing. Jongdae snarls at her, baring his teeth, in response. "Because you can't even say the Draconian prayer without _meaning it?_ "

"My delivery of that stupid prayer has nothing to do with my desire to serve Rayquaza."

"You, _serving_ Rayquaza?" Professor Kwon laughs, shakes her head. Cocks an eyebrow at Jongdae as she lets out a loud exhale. Kyungsoo shivers at the sound of her bright laughter, the way it cuts through the silence like a sharp peal of thunder coming down from the heavens. He can see Baekhyun flinching, as well, and shaking his head. And Chanyeol seems to be just as frustrated as Jongdae is. Chanyeol is furrowing his eyebrows and crossing his arms over his chest and he has the _audacity_ to click his tongue – not at Jongdae or at Professor Kwon, but at Rayquaza. "You _think_ summoning Rayquaza to clean up after you because you can't tame your weather gods anymore is service to Rayquaza? You call that pure intention and the desire to worship?"

"I'm calling it how it should be called: service," Jongdae answers through gritted teeth. Professor Kwon pulls him closer, eyes ablaze as she locks her gaze onto Jongdae. "And I'm calling this entire arrangement of yours with Rayquaza 'unfair' because you're not the one who's spent _years_ just trying to decode some ancient writing in ugly as fuck script that's almost _impossible to understand–_ "

Rayquaza lets out a loud roar and nudges Jongdae away, dragging him by the tip of its front horns and tossing him to the side. "Okay, that's enough–" Chanyeol yells, but then he's sending out a Entei, making it charge to where Rayquaza is, telling it, "Use Sacred Fire on Rayquaza, now! Make the burn last!" Rayquaza opens its eyes wide, then, and _shit–_ Kyungsoo hears his breath hitch when Rayquaza shifts where it's floating in the air, facing Chanyeol in earnest and letting out a loud cry that sends Entei skidding back to where it started. It hasn't even touched Entei yet. All Rayquaza has ever done is to let out a shrill sound, a scream, a _warning,_ and Entei scurries back to where Chanyeol is. " _Useless._ Heatran, help me–"

"Gardevoir, Hyper Voice on Heatran and Entei!" Kyungsoo calls out. Gardevoir looks up at the very next second then teleports close to where Chanyeol is, firing off an attack in the direction of Chanyeol's Pokemon. It isn't enough to knock both out, but it does stun the two long enough for Gardevoir to be able to fire off another attack. And it renders both paralyzed for a while as Excadrill heads to where Gardevoir is, looking over its shoulder and looking at Kyungsoo as if saying, _you didn't think I'd miss out on the fun, did you?_

"Earthquake on the–" He shifts his gaze when he hears Jongdae screaming, seeking help from his own Raikou and Zapdos. Swampert and Camerupt can also help out, but then they also have to make sure that both Kyogre and Groudon won't be able to regain their energy and join Rayquaza in spreading destruction upon _this dimension._ "No, use Rock Slide on those two!" he tells his Pokemon then, tilting his head in the direction of Jongdae's Pokemon. Excadrill nods in acknowledgement and lunges forward, summoning a barrage of rocks and launching the attack onto the two electric-types. Zapdos is the first to go down, but not without firing off an attack of it's own, not at Excadrill but at– "Rayquaza, look out!" But too late. Rayquaza's eyes blow wide open as soon as the electric-type attack makes contact with it, then comes crashing to the ground in a loud, earth-shaking thud the next second.

" _Service,_ " Chanyeol says through gritted teeth, then grins at Professor Kwon. He offers a hand in Jongdae's direction, pulling him up, then slides an arm around Jongdae to help keep his partner on his feet. Jongdae's body gives a tiny jerk at that, makes him seethe, but soon he's plastering that same maniacal grin on his lips like he's been practicing it for so long already, just for this moment. Then Chanyeol's fishing for something deep in his pocket, a tiny capsule that blooms into something the size of a Pokeball, except clothed in a bright shade of red. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we'll just collect what's rightfully ours."

Kyungsoo gulps hard upon recognition and tries to reach Gardevoir as quickly as possible. Feels for the two remaining capsules on his belt pack and grips them tight, ready to toss them in the air at the next second. Baekhyun beats him to it, though, rushing to where Chanyeol is and wrestling the capsule out of Chanyeol's grasp. "Nope, not catching this one," Baekhyun cries out, then wraps his fingers around the red Pokeball and tries to pull it out of Chanyeol's grip. Never mind that Jongdae's trying to hold Baekhyun back, pulling him away by the wrist too hard for a weakened body to sustain – Baekhyun keeps at it, shucks Jongdae off with a wave of the arm and grips the Pokeball with both of his hands. Yells at the top his his voice, "Ludicolo, freeze th– _fuck_ –Icy–"

"Ludicolo, Icy Wind on the those two!" Kyungsoo cries out, then, meeting Ludicolo's eyes a few feet away. Ludicolo widens its eyes for a moment, stunned, maybe even trying to recognize Kyungsoo's voice. This isn't the first time Kyungsoo will be attempting to use any of Baekhyun's Pokemon, but then it's normal for Pokemon trained by someone else to not respond to a different trainer's commands at once. Kyungsoo gets it – his brother's Slaking took _forever_ to tame in the same way that it took him forever to grow accustomed to Ralts' silly antics, mood swings, habits. Pokemon aren't at all different from humans. Like trainer, like Pokemon, after all. Still, Kyungsoo holds his breath, waits for the flash of recognition in Ludicolo's features before the Pokemon nods and runs in Baekhyun's direction.

So Kyungsoo calls out, "Right in the face, Ludicolo, come on!" curls his fingers into loose fists and leans forward as he chants in his head, _come on, come on, come on._ This time Ludicolo follows without a flinch of the limbs, letting out a stream of cool wind in Chanyeol and Jongdae's direction and setting Baekhyun free from Jongdae's grasp. Chanyeol doesn't yield, though, his grip on the capsule still tight, but that doesn't matter; Ludicolo isn't letting on, either. It's launching one powerful attack after another, the cool winds fast turning into a thick beam of icicles wrapping around Chanyeol's arm and forcing him to let go of the capsule.

"Got you!" Baekhyun goes for a dive, then, reaching out for the Pokeball and curling in on himself as he skids across the ground. Ludicolo's quick to build a thick wall of ice to stop Baekhyun from sliding, to keep Baekhyun from falling off the edge, but not quite quick enough to keep Chanyeol from sending out his Moltres and ordering it to attack Rayquaza with something – Kyungsoo can't hear anything above the noise of the explosions, the attacks, the crashing and the loud thumping in his chest. Soon, Rayquaza's screaming out again, writhing in pain on the ground and making the surface shift beneath its weight. Part of Kyungsoo wants to berate himself from taking his eyes off of – Rayquaza whose body is beginning to glow, on Jongdae who has just ordered Entei to fire off a powerful Thunder attack on Rayquaza and has asked his Zapdos to _crush Ludicolo with a Thunderbolt,_ Chanyeol who's picking Baekhyun up off the ground and snatching the capsule from him again, then landing a punch to Baekhyun's gut that makes Baekhyun widen his eyes and cough out a gasp – he can't tell anymore. He's been calling out attacks at Ludicolo and Gardevoir and Excadrill all at the same time that he can’t even tell which came first, who’s attacking which, who he’s really trying to save.

“Garchomp, Rock Slide on the Zapdos! Salamence, Draco Meteor on the Entei!" he hears Professor Kwon say. Only then does Zapdos come crashing to the ground, followed suit by Entei who has just finished cloaking Rayquaza with the brightest blue glow. "Fuck, that's burn's going to–" Going to take it out, Kyungsoo would ask, but then the next thing he knows Chanyeol's rushing to where Rayquaza is and throwing the red Pokeball in its direction.

"Not on my watch," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, then runs right across Chanyeol's trajectory to intercept the capsule. The ball doesn't even curve up – Chanyeol has thrown it at such a high speed that it punches right through the now calm winds and inches closer to where Rayquaza is. And he _knows_ he won't make it, not if he just runs, so he leaps, hurls his body forward, stretches his arm out until he feels a nasty burn in his shoulders, his back, the sides of his torso. He can feel the force of the pitch, the way the Pokeball pushes against the bone of his wrist, the way it crawls along the back of his hand, the cool surface making him shiver. And he can feel the veins in his hand _stinging,_ reminding him that he's human, he has limits, _he can fail,_ but he fights that niggling thought. He shrugs it off and tries to swing his arm, hitting the capsule with the last ounce of energy he has and sends it flying to the sides. It doesn't quite reach the edge of the barrier but it does land close to the cliff, teetering along the sides before falling off, disappearing from his line of sight.

And then he breathes out, Closes his eyes when he sees the rough surface about to greet him and tries to twist his body so he can curl in on himself to cushion his fall. His limbs feel as if they've been crushed by a thousand Snorlaxes, though, and his ankles betray him yet again, and the next thing he feels is pebbles, sand, and rocks sticking to his skin, leaving scars on his body. The crash is long, rough, painful, and now he can taste sand and blood on his lips. A few feet away, he can see Professor Kwon widening her eyes, can see her shifting her gaze from Rayquaza to where Baekhyun is and then to where _he_ is lying on the ground, so he screams, "Don't leave Rayquaza's side! Chanyeol will–"

A beep, and soon the skies are filled with a bright red light. It's impossible to see a thing from where he is, to try to make out anything with something that feels a lot like blood trickling down the sides of his face, just close enough to his eyes, but there's no mistaking that scream, the shrill cry that jolts him back to life and makes him open his eyes wide. He tries to push himself up, tries to prop himself against his arms when he hears Professor Kwon ordering her Pokemon to _fucking take Chanyeol and Jongdae down,_ when he hears Baekhyun grunting a few feet away, croaking, "–the fuck is happening to Rayquaza–" Going ballistic again, Kyungsoo'd answer if he can even feel his lips, his throat, but he can only blink. He can only _try_ to refocus his vision as he sees a thick cloud of red light envelop the entire place, making him narrows his eyes. Then he sees Rayquaza standing from where it has fallen to the ground, soaring high above them again and opening it's mouth to let out a loud, loud cry. A tiny ball of light forms right at the tip of Rayquaza's front horns, slowly growing bigger, _brighter_ with each passing second, with every scratch on the ground that Kyungsoo hears inching closer to where he is.

"Hey. Hey–" A kick on the calf and he groans, eyes fluttering shut for a quick second before he feels a familiar warmth pressed to his body. He tries to look to his side, then, tilting his head a little, but even that makes pain shoot up his nape and makes him shiver all over. Baekhyun moves even closer, then, reaching for the tip of Kyungsoo's pinky and hooking his own finger onto it. Kyungsoo almost laughs. Heavily injured and bleeding, Baekhyun still has the energy to keep people close, to hold on. Seconds away from receiving the brunt force of whatever Rayquaza's planning to obliterate them with, Baekhyun still has some energy to summon what looks like a smile. Or maybe even a frown – Kyungsoo can't feel the pads of his glasses on his nose anymore. It's a miracle he can even see a thing.

"I think we're–" Baekhyun stops, coughing, wheezing and mumbling something under his breath before he feels his throat again. "I think we're going to die so–"

"You think?" Kyungsoo snorts. A few feet away, he can hear Professor Kwon ordering her Sylveon to reach out to Rayquaza, can hear her telling her Garchomp, her Salamence, Kyungsoo's Gardevoir and Baekhyun's Camerupt and every Pokemon still standing to try to coax Rayquaza to calm down. There's still hope, she's saying, convincing herself. And Kyungsoo wants to hold onto that as well. He wants to be there, reaching out to Rayquaza the same way that he reached out to Ralts when it was being attacked, _assaulted._ When it wasn't being given a chance but to fight back when it didn't even want to engage in battle. So yes, he knows they're about to die any minute now, but part of him is still clinging onto that fiber of hope that they'll make it through. That they'll get through Rayquaza and Chanyeol and Jongdae. That they'll finally finish this bloody mission and live to tell the tale. He turns to Baekhyun then, really turns his head now to face Baekhyun, wincing when he feels a sting shoot up the side of his neck. He tries to summon a smile, though. If they'll have to go then the last thing he wants Baekhyun to remember is his smile, his touch, the link of their fingers. "Okay, you think we're going to die. So?"

"So I just wanted to–" The ground beneath them rumbles another time, making them skid a few feet south, but Baekhyun manages to hold onto _something_ to keep them from sliding further away from the ground. They cough out, trying to shake off the last dregs of the tremors sticking to their bodies. "–tell you never to try to control my Ludicolo again because taking an Icy Wind to the face fucking hurts," Baekhyun blurts out all in one breath, but pulls Kyungsoo closer, even closer, until Baekhyun's draping a leg over Kyungsoo's body.

Are you _out of your mind,_ Kyungsoo wants to say, wants to shake Baekhyun off because every part of him aches with the pain of taking a thousand Scalds to the back, but then he can feel the shift of Baekhyun's muscles, can feel the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun's lips against his now bare shoulder. And he can feel Baekhyun's heartbeat in the awkward fit of their bodies here on the ground, meters away from where Rayquaza is thrashing about. His chest feels so heavy and full, like its about to burst, but, _don't,_ he tells himself. Baekhyun's laughing against his chest, half of his face buried in it. He wants to relish this feeling, to keep it in a vessel of his mind and heart forever. He wants to take it to the grave or maybe even wake up to it, feeling more refreshed than ever, _reborn._

"But thank you for saving me," Baekhyun continues after a while, then swallows hard before coughing some more. From where they are, lying close to lifeless on the ground, he can see Professor Kwon punching what looks like Chanyeol square on the nose and kicking Jongdae _somewhere_ that hurts so badly, his scream soars above the rumbling noise Rayquaza is making with those short bursts of energy streaming from its fingers. And he can hear the stream of prayers, _wishes,_ at the back of his mind, Gardevoir's voice ringing in his ears louder than the rest as his Pokemon chants, _God of great wisdom, god of the skies, please go back to your purest form and leave behind these lies–_ Baekhyun seems to hear the pleas as well, stopping for the quickest second to crane his neck, then leaning back into Kyungsoo, ear pressed to his chest. "And for trusting my Pokemon enough to lend it some of your power. That means a lot."

He gulps hard. Leans back a little so he can see Baekhyun better, so that he can at least get a glimpse of Baekhyun eyes, nose, the distinct curl of his lips, but everything's becoming a blur with Rayquaza letting out another loud cry, shaking up the ground and releasing a flurry of strong winds that brush Baekhyun's hair away from his face. "It's all Ludicolo," he whispers after a while, laughing. "I mean, your Pokemon's really good. Knows how to trust other trainers and work with them–"

Baekhyun shakes his head. Or at least that's what it feels like when Baekhyun moves his head from side to side against Kyungsoo's chest. Half of Kyungsoo is tempted to pinch Baekhyun in his side, but that requires too much energy. So instead, Kyungsoo tucks his chin in a little, bumps his nose into the crown of Baekhyun's hair. Murmurs, "Stop moving too much–"

"By trusting my Pokemon, you're placing faith and trust in me, as well," Baekhyun answers, voice loud and clear, unshaken by the tremors seeping into their skin, making them shiver. "And that means a lot. That means the world to me."

Maybe it's just the looming thought of dying at work or fatigue weighing down on them, yet Kyungsoo buries his face in Baekhyun's hair in response, anyway. He inhales, sharp and deep, taking in the scent of sweat and sand and smoke in Baekhyun's hair, but he doesn't mind. He can feel his heart racing in his chest faster than before, pumping blood and energy to every part of him like it's running on generator right now, reserve energy, the last ounce that he has. So he makes full use of that, snakes an arm around Baekhyun's waist to pull Baekhyun even closer, on top of him, making him warm. His limbs still feel sore and he aches all over, and the slide of their arms is rough, sand still stuck to their skin like glue, but in the strange fit of their bodies he can't feel the sting of pain shooting up his arms anymore, or that traitorous cold wrapping around his throat and making him choke on his own breath. All he can feel is the loud beating in his chest, Baekhyun's thundering pulse on his stomach, the movement of the ground beneath them and cool shiver that crawls up his chest when Rayquaza lets out another roar – mighty and loud, but not as shrill as before.

"So," Baekhyun says, coughing out one last time before looking up at Kyungsoo. "Ready to die together?"

Kyungsoo snorts. Shakes his head, even, and leans in to press a soft to Baekhyun's forehead. Sweat and grime stick to his lips, but he doesn't care anymore – he's about to die, anyway. He's about to rush into battle with Baekhyun despite their broken bones and their damaged Pokemon and he's _aware_ that they might die any minute, but the important thing is that they'll try – to fight back, to make things right, to fulfil their mission. To join their Pokemon in trying to connect with Rayquaza and telling it to quell the storm inside itself so that the war may end, so that peace may be restored once and for all. If they have to die right now then they might as well die trying to save the world 'til their very last breath.

He nods, tries to push himself up with his arms, propping himself to sit up. Baekhyun peels himself from where they'd been tucked in each other's limbs. Then, with a shaky hand, Baekhyun reaches out, pulling him – _them_ – back to his feet, turning the world upright again and swinging themselves into a state of equilibrium.

"Let's do this," he says. He squeezes Baekhyun's hand tight. He doesn't let go. "Let's die together."

They take one step forward, inching to where the others are. He sees the jerk of Gardevoir's head, sees his Pokemon look over its shoulder to address him with wide eyes and an even wider smile, but the first thing he tells Gardevoir is _focus, focus on Rayquaza. Don't worry about me. We need to help Rayquaza out._ Gardevoir nods, then, shifting its attention back to Rayqyaza and stretching its arms up again in the legendary Pokemon's direction. Chanyeol and Jongdae are motioning to stand again, down on their knees now and running their palms along the pockets of their pants, possibly checking if they have any more Pokemon to use, but Baekhyun's quick to react, whistling at his Espeon and telling it to cage them inside a protective bubble. "You're too nice. We could've beaten them up, instead," Kyungsoo says in protest, choking between some syllables when he tastes blood in his mouth. Baekhyun gets it, just the same, rolling his eyes and nudging him in his side before running a warm palm over the bruised area. Then Baekhyun twists his knuckles there, in the same spot, earning him a scowl. "I could've beaten you up."

"Save the world with me first," Baekhyun counters. The corners of his lips curl up into a small smile, just enough to reach the corners of his eyes and make them crinkle. "Then you can beat me up. Or beat me. Whichever's easier for you."

"I don't like it easy. Challenges are nice," Kyungsoo whispers in response. Baekhyun shakes his head at that. Kyungsoo can still feel the force of Baekhyun's knuckles twisted in his side, can still feel the dull ache of a hundred, or maybe a thousand of the scars drawn across his body, but he doesn't shake Baekhyun off. All these things that have happened to him – they haven't made his life easier. They made it difficult, challenging, _fulfilling._ He wouldn't have gotten the same amount of satisfaction just training his Pokemon and going up against gym leaders. Trying to stay alive while trying to keep your dream alive is a strange yet wonderful opportunity that most people don't get.

He's not most people. He's not Sinyuk-ri's little Do, brother of the greater Do who'd been working with Professor Kwon on crafting the best medicine for Pokemon

He's Do Kyungsoo. He's a Pokemon trainer hoping to be a Pokemon master. But right now, he wants nothing more than to pacify a raging Rayquaza – not alone, but with Baekhyun's help. With the help of Professor Kwon and all the Pokemon they have in their possession.

He can't do it alone, he knows it. And strangely enough, he doesn't mind.

Taking a deep breath, he reaches for the last two capsules in his belt pack and tosses them in the air. He feels his knees give away a little, shaking, so he grips Baekhyun by the arm tight, until he feels his pulse pressed against Baekhyun's skin. "Sorry," he whispers when he feels the shift of Baekhyun's muscles, the light twitch of Baekhyun's arm when his nails dig into Baekhyun's skin. When he feels his knees strengthening just enough to let them inch closer to where the others are. But he doesn't let go yet even when the burning sensation at the back of his knees, in his thighs and in his calves, eases – he holds onto Baekhyun, rests a hand on Gardevoir's shoulder when they finally join the others. Doesn't shake off Gardevoir's warm touch when his Pokemon rests a hand atop his own and grips him tight.

"Glad to have you back," Professor Kwon says, offering them a small smile. Her cheeks are lined with wounds burning a bright red, but her eyes are soft at the corners, gentle. Almost like she _knows_ that this isn't the end yet, that they _will_ be able to get through this test. And who is Kyungsoo to deny her that now even if he knows that one wrong more will lead them to their imminent end? Rayquaza's a ticking time bomb; they all sponges waiting to soak up the pressures of Rayquaza's attack. But if she believes that there's still hope inside them, in a hollow cavity in their chests, then he'll hold onto that. "Took you a while. For a minute there, I thought I was going to–"

"Don't– Don't say it–," Baekhyun mutters. He reaches out to hold Professor Kwon's hand, anyway, linking their fingers together and raising them in Rayquaza's direction. "If there's one word in this world that I hate hearing, it's that _thing–_ "

"I thought I was going to have to have to shield these kids' eyes already. You two looked like you were having the time of your life," she teases. She cocks an eyebrow at Baekhyun, then leans forward to address Kyungsoo with a nod. "Sorry, I had to be the third wheel."

"Sorry you had to deal with my brother before," Baekhyun mutters in response. He drops his hand from where he'd been gripping Kyungsoo by the arm, then links their fingers together. Kyungsoo winces at the brush of their skin, both rough and bruised, but he hooks his fingers onto Baekhyun's, anyway. It's not as if he can lift his arms on his own without crying out in pain, after all. "And sorry you had to... deal with his."

"Baekbeom's a pain in the ass, just like you," Professor Kwon counters, laughing a little. Then she shakes her free hand, splaying her fingers in the air when she lifts it again. "Seungsoo's a different case altogether.

Kyungsoo hums. "On a league of his own?"

Professor Kwon cocks an eyebrow in response, then smiles a little. There's a little quiver in her lips, in the way she lets a corner curl up more than the other and holds it there, but a smile is still a smile; it warms Kyungsoo up a little, eases the sudden rush of cold when Gardevoir lifts its hand to raise it in Rayquaza's direction. "I guess you can say that," she answers after a while, then breathes out a low exhale. "Yeah, I guess you can."

Rayquaza lets out another loud cry as it releases a wave of energy all around itself. A ring of purple emanates from the legendary Pokemon as it opens its eyes wide, as it holds up both of its hands as if planning to snatch the skies from where they are and throw it onto the ground. Kyungsoo furrows his eyebrows on instinct, squints, leans back. He can feel it coming, that single powerful attack that will wipe them all out in a blink of an eye, so he takes a deep breath. Braces himself for the impact of the blast. Tries keep his mind on reaching Rayquaza, on chanting that mantra that they've been muttering under their breaths and pouring all of their hopes into for the past minute or two. It seems close to impossible now, pacifying Rayquaza at the very last minute, _right before_ it releases that blast of powerful energy, but as long as they're still standing here, as long as they're _still alive,_ there's hope. He tightens his grip on both Gardevoir and Baekhyun, breathing out when he hears the sudden cracking of Baekhyun's voice and when he feels the shift of Gardevoir's muscles against his palm. They're alive, he tells himself, again and again until the sound soars high above thumping in his chest.

The ground beneath them shakes, the sand kicking off the surface yet again to stick to his ankles. _They're alive._

The thick blanket of light around them thins at the same time that he hears the sound of crackling in the air. Maybe it's thunder, or maybe it's the last layer of the barrier Team Rocket had built around the mountains finally crumbling. Maybe it's _Espeon's_ shields coming down to set Chanyeol, Jongdae, and their legendary Pokemon free, but the important thing is that they can _hear it. They're alive._

Rayquaza sucks in a deep, rattling breath, making the pebbles on the ground dance on the surface. It makes Rayquaza's body shake, makes it shiver all over and then cry out loud in a voice so shrill and deafening. And it makes the portal right behind Rayquaza grow even bigger, now thrice its size from when Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had first seen it. Kyungsoo's first thought is to seethe, to gulp down hard; the second, to tell breathe out, saying, "This is it." He can feel the jerk of Baekhyun's body pressed against his own, can see Professor Kwon looking at him for a quick second, almost a heartbeat, and then tearing her eyes from him and fixing them on Rayquaza again. He can _feel_ the vibrations of Rayquaza's low roar in his ankle, the back of his knees. And he can hear a small voice in his ear, one that sounds a lot like him when he was younger but not quite, saying, _don't give up just yet. Give it all you've got. Just a bit more–_

"Louder!" he screams out, then, and chants the prayer in the loudest voice he can muster. Never mind that his throat feels like it's been scratched by a hundred of Groudon's claws or hit by Pelipper's Air Slahes; this might be Rayquaza, itself, asking them from help. There's no turning back now; they have to give this everything they have. He grips Baekhyun and Gardevoir tighter, cranes his neck to meet Professor Kwon in the eye, _strains his body_ to tap Sceptile and Excadrill and Camerupt and Swampert. Tries to reach out to everyone because they'll need all the prayers, all the support they can get. And he enunciates the syllables better even as he watches Rayquaza tilt its head up high, facing the heavens and the bright light coming from above. He can hear it now, the collective voices of humans and Pokemon, the distinct sounds all saying one thing and one thing alone – we're sorry for our crimes, Rayquaza. Now come back so we can enjoy this world the way people and Pokemon should – and he's hoping, wishing, _praying_ Rayquaza will hear the same even with their voices cracking, quivering, lilting–

The scene in front of them explodes in a blinding light. He shuts his eyes tight then buries his face in Gardevoir's shoulders, but he keeps his grip on Baekhyun tight. He can feel Baekhyun's pulse tap a beat against his palm, can almost feel the shift of Baekhyun's muscles and hear the faint _huh?_ that spills from Baekhyun's lips. This is the end, he thinks. It might not be the perfect end to the mission they've been trying to desperately to fulfil, but with Team Rocket gone and Rayquaza wiping out everything, the destruction that Kyogre and Groudon have brought upon the land included, he can't say he feels entirely bad about it. It's an end, a stopper to the battle they've been fighting for _months._ Not the sweetest or the happiest of endings, but it could have been worse. Team Rocket could have killed them and even spread their chaos to countries other than their own. Chanyeol and Jongdae could have sought out other legendary Pokemon and attempted to catch them. They could have transformed the world into something a bit more evil and less humane. So he breathes out, tries to smile against Gardevoir's skin. Thinks, in a voice loud and clear so that his Pokemon can hear him, it was good while it lasted. It's been a crazy run. He couldn't have asked for a better journey as a trainer.

But then the light dispels, soon replaced with a more comforting warmth. Sort of like sunshine in winter, thawing out his ungloved fingers. Then he feels Gardevoir shift in its position, hears the faint sound of wonder spilling from Gardevoir's lips. So he peels himself off his Pokemon, lifts his head to look to his side, then right in front of him. He can see Baekhyun with his eyes in that strange crossfire between squinted and wide open, lips parted in a small 'o'. Professor Kwon's wearing the same look, albeit with the corners of her lips slowly, very slowly, tugging up into a small smile. He follows her gaze, then, fixing on a ripple in the sky that looks a lot like another portal. Maybe the beginnings of a black hole? He can't tell yet. All the knows is that the warmth spilling onto his skin feels comfortable, isn't the kind of heat that prickles his skin and leaves him feeling sore all over.

And then the skies break. There’s nothing but darkness inside that ripple in the sky, but what emerges from it remains clothed in light the way Rayquaza had been when it descended from the heavens earlier. _Rayquaza–_ He cranes his neck, trying to look for the legendary Pokemon, then spots it circling the black hole that Dialga and Palkia had created, the path to the other dimension where Team Rocket had trapped the other legendary Pokemon so that they might not thwart their plans.

A heartbeat, and the creature emerging from the portal shakes off the cloak of light. Kyungsoo traces its body with his gaze, trying to refocus his vision as he squints. He can make out long, white limbs, adorned with gold lining in its– "Hooves?" he whispers under his breath. Beside him, he hears Baekhyun give a low grunt, sees Baekhyun nod a little. Feels Baekhyun’s body give a light jerk when the creature – the _Pokemon_ – lets out a faint cry. A long mane flows from the back of its head, painted with a hint of gray along the sides. Its belly is gray in color, as well, broken only by the gold ring wound around its torso. He knows this form, has seen it before on television, in one of those Pokemon specials where Professor Okido talked about the origin of the Pokemon world, how the world began and how Pokemon were created. And he's seen this Pokemon in books before. If he were to be completely honest then he'd say he never thought he'd see the day that he'd witness this Pokemon – Arceus, the god of all Pokemon, the creator, himself – bursting from its resting place and traveling to the human land to right all the wrongs in the world.

From a corner of his eye, he sees Professor Kwon sinking to her knees, bowing her head once before lifting it again to face Arceus. "I never thought–" she begins, voice cracking just before she coughs out, but Baekhyun finishes that for her, whispering under his breath something that sounds a lot like, _I never thought I'd see Arceus while I'm still alive._ Kyungsoo wants to laugh, wants to slap Baekhyun in the arm, but Arceus' mere presence keeps him from doing anything or thinking of anything but how to address the god of all Pokemon _right in front of him._ Professor Kwon seems to find her words again, licking her lips apart, pressing them together again, and then finding courage again when she says, "Thank you. For... hearing our plea and pacifying Rayquaza and–"

Arceus shakes its head, then looks in Rayquaza's direction before firing a ball of light into the black hole, dispelling the darkness and turning it into light. Out comes the stream of Pokemon, not just the legendary ones that Chanyeol and Jongdae have conned into submission but even those that Kyungsoo has seen all too frequently in his travels. Rattata, Zubat, Zigzagoon, Eevee, Togekiss, heck, even a Rotom that Kyungsoo hasn't seen anywhere else but in books – all of them come bursting from the passageway, looking around them once they get back on solid ground and breathing in the cool air all around them. For a second, Kyungsoo's worried that the plateau they're standing on will give out on them, but then Arceus lifts its head to the sky and summons another ball of light, releasing it to the heavens until the ball of energy explodes in showers, like rays of sunshine. The last few layers of the barrier covering the mountains crack under the force of Arceus' power, just in time to usher in more levels of ground, a surface that the Pokemon emerging from the black hole can stand on as they reacquaint themselves with the world. Kyungsoo shivers at the push and pull of warmth and cold that seeps into their dimension, reeling them back to the human world. It stills the lurching sensation in his stomach, though, lifts the burn in his thighs and calves a little. He can feel the splitting pain of his wounds whenever the warm winds blow, yes, but his knees feel stronger now. It's almost as if he can run the very next minute if he wants to.

"Amazing," Baekhyun whispers, looking all around them. His grip on Kyungsoo loosens a little, but there's still the pattering pulse in his palm, the soft smile on his lips. And he still has his thumb pressed to Kyungsoo's pulse like it's his way of remind himself that he isn't dreaming, that everything he's seeing, feeling, _experiencing_ right now is real. That they're alive, and they've lived to tell the tale. He looks to his side for a moment, breathing out light laughter, then whispers, "Who'd even think this is possible?"

Kyungsoo snorts, shakes his head, _laughs._ Who'd even think that two rookie trainers will be able to save the world?

Dialga and Palkia step out of the portal, shaking their limbs as soon as they're freed from the hole. They circle Arceus for a while, hovering, until Giratina appears, leaving the portal last. Only then does Rayquaza break away from it, stretching out its body from where it had been coiled into a tight circle and letting out a roar as it flies across the skies. Only then does the sick mix of weathers lift, do the skies on either side of Sobaeksan turn from a bright white on one side and a thick sheet of darkness on the other into pale blue skies. _Normal_ is the first word that occurs to Kyungsoo; the second, _home._ He can recognize this place now, can recognize that thick patch of greenery meters south of Sobaeksan – that's Sangju. A few meters north is Daegu. And then that protrusion of land that he knows all too well – "Sokcho-si," he whispers at the same time that Baekhyun does. He can even make out a faint image of Ulleung-do from where he is. He can see _clearly_ now even with his eyelids too heavy and his eyesight beyond repair without his glasses. So this isn't returning to how things were prior to the war – this is something better. This is living without hindrances that he – no, _they_ have experienced in the past.

This is being reborn.

"Does this mean–" Baekhyun looks up, shifting his gaze from the scene before them to face Arceus once more. "Does this mean that everything's okay now? That– That it won't happen again and that those assholes–" Kyungsoo nudges him in his side, mumbles, _language,_ under his breath. "–evil people over there will be punished or–"

Arceus' eyes turn into half moon crescents. If it had a mouth then it would probably smiling, maybe even laughing at Baekhyun now. Arceus speeds past them, then, stopping when it hovers both Kyogre and Groudon for a while. Soon, Arceus is lifting them off their feet to hand them over to Rayquaza. Then Chanyeol and Jongdae are next, still trapped in the bubble that Espeon had caged them in minutes ago. Kyungsoo can hear their muffled screams, can see them pounding on the walls of the bubble, desperately trying to escape, but he only shakes his head at that. Laughs when Baekhyun says, "You can die trying." But then if Arceus wanted them dead then it would have fired off an attack at the two already, obliterating them in a blink of an eye. If Arceus wanted the whole mission to end that way then they wouldn't even be standing here – they'd be crashing to the ground as soon as Arceus appeared, never to see the light of day again. Arceus isn't a beacon of mercy – it holds justice above everything else. So if by some stroke of luck, the Rockets get a chance to repent and live to die another day, then this is luck swinging in their direction.

It _could_ be that simple, though, Kyungsoo muses. With the weather now stable and the legendary Pokemon freed from Team Rocket's clutches, there's very little reason for chaos to spark again. Never mind that Team Rocket might find other ways to wreck havoc upon the entire land and play the same set of events, the same brand of chaos and violence all over again even after almost getting killed in this face-off; there's also the chance that they'll learn their lesson, after all. Kyungsoo wants to hold onto that fiber of hope, thin as it may be. After all, that's the only thing you need sometimes – a chance, a spark of light. A single seed of optimism to pull off even the most outrageous of ideas, concepts, _plans._

But then Arceus picks Chanyeol and Jongdae up and tilts its head in Giratina's direction. Soon, Giratina's growling into the wind, opening up another portal leading to a dark space on the other side. Kyungsoo squints – it looks like a mirror of the world they are in right now, albeit dimmer, clothed in nothing but darkness. Peals of lightning striking from the above, then a violent whip of winds that spills over to their dimension and makes all of them shiver. Soon, Arceus is guiding Chanyeol and Jongdae inside, watching as they get sucked into the dark portal beside Giratina.

Kyungsoo gulps down hard. Beside him, Baekhyun bites the inside of his cheek before saying, "Isn't that the–"

"The Distortion World. The real Distortion World, completely unlike the one Chanyeol and Jongdae created earlier," Professor Kwon answers, ending with a scoff. She lifts her gaze, looking into the portal, but then Giratina's closing in on it, slipping inside the passageway and closing it with a loud roar. "It's the... worst possible place to be. It's like our world, but it isn't. You can exist in that space but not truly live. It's–" She shakes her head and lets out a long sigh, then swallows before continuing, "It's like floating in limbo, getting stuck there forever. It's not a place where you can repent; it's a place where you're forced to remember the consequences of your actions and learn from them."

"But will they–" Kyungsoo shifts his gaze for a while when Arceus lets out a low cry, then looks back at Professor Kwon. "They won't ever get out of there, will they?"

Professor Kwon shakes her head. She slumps, letting her shoulders fall forward for a quick second then pulling them back as she stands upright. "Yes. And no, if you really think about it. You get accustomed to how the Distortion World works and build a house, your own world there – that's your happy ending. But there will always be something missing. You see–" She worries her bottom lip, then breathes out in a loud exhale. "No one has ever come out alive but all the ancient text that we've read say that the Distortion World is a place where love, happiness, all these wonderful things don't exist. Instead, you have indifference, desperation, _solitude._ Which is different from being alone or from being lonely. You– You don't even have a sense of _life_ there!" she exclaims. She clasps her hands together, squeezes them tight. Loosens her grip on her own self a little, then drops her hands to her sides.

"There is no coming out of the Distortion World alive, and there is no dying inside of it," she continues after a while, pausing to shut her eyes when a whirring sound coming from the closing portal blares in their ears. Kyungsoo winces at the sound, flinches; Baekhyun covers his ear with his free hand. The sound only fades when the portal closes in earnest, the cool winds from inside no longer seeping into their world. It helps ease the tightness in Kyungsoo's throat, helps Baekhyun breathe more easily. Helps Professor Kwon shake off the shiver that has crawled up her neck so she can continue, "There's only staying there for years upon years upon years only to realize that you will forever be stuck between two spaces, never to find your way home."

 _Home._ Kyungsoo laughs a little. Six months ago, if he was asked where 'home' was, he'd say Sinyuk-ri in a heartbeat. If people looked at him silly and told him the village had been washed away already, then he'd grudgingly say Mokpo-si. Then screw those people over in his mind. But he's learned to make a home out of every place he's been to now, be it the hot desert he had to go through just to get to Jeonju-si, or the vast waters he has to sail just get to the Tokchok Islands. Or maybe even the rocky path that they had to take from Seoul to the little village of Songu-ri to Chuncheon-si where they even encountered the legendary Swords and almost got knocked out by them. All these places, he's somehow come to call 'home' at one point – there's to point in trying, time and time again, to cast the hook onto that one place where he feels most comfortable anymore, knowing that Sinyuki-ri can't ever go back to the way it was. He can't stay stuck forever. He had to move on. So he let the waves carry him off-shore, to the far lands of Gangwon-do, then south of the province to reach Gyeongsang and eventually have him end up in Busan-si.

And here he is now, standing before Arceus, facing Professor Kwon who's slowly regaining her breath, the tight press of her lips easing into softer upward curls. Here he is now, leaning against Baekhyun with his elbow pressed to Baekhyun's side and their pinkies linked behind their bruised bodies. This, too, is home, he muses, the way their bodies fit even with all the bruises and cuts on their skin, the way Professor Kwon grins in earnest as Rayquaza hovers her for a moment, leaning in to drop a small jewel in her hand, a round stone that Kyungsoo's half-certain in Rayquaza's mega evolution stone. _This_ – being surrounded by people important to him, by the Pokemon he has raised and who have helped him out – this is also home. And Arceus tilting its head to the side then coaxing them to look up – this is an invitation, an open door, an inch closer to stepping back inside familiar quarters and finding comfort in familiar places, faces.

"Jirachi?" Kyungsoo whispers as soon as he sees the Pokemon hovering them, a tiny Pokemon akin to a star, except with only three triangles protruding from its body. He cranes his neck, tiptoes when he feels Baekhyun's hand secure on the small of his back. Leans even closer as he tries to see better. Soon, Jirachi's lunging in his direction, stopping just before the tips of its toes touch Kyungsoo's nose. The Pokemon tilts its head, studying him with its wide, wide eyes. For a second, he thinks he's wrong – Jirachi's supposed to have three green 'tags', one for each of the triangles protruding from its body, signifying the three wishes that it can grant according to legend – but then he sees a small pink marking on the tip of the Pokemon's top triangle. He looks to his side, then, asking Professor Kwon. "The wish Pokemon, right? That's what it's called?"

Professor Kwon nods, a bob of the head accompanied with a small smile towards the end. "This is the second time I'm seeing it," she says, tucking one hand in her pocket. "The previous war, and then this one – Baekbeom was with me then. Seungsoo wanted to be there, but–" She shakes her head. Her lips are parted, like she wants to say more, but nothing comes out. She only looks at Kyungsoo like she's expecting Kyungsoo to get it, whatever she's trying to say with that small smile of hers. Like she'd summoned the Pokemon, herself, when in fact it was Arceus who'd called Jirachi to be in their presence.

"Back then, we wished for peace to be restored," she continues after a while, inching closer to where Jirachi is. She holds out a hand, fingers curled just a little, _relaxed,_ and Jirachi makes its way to where she is, settling on her palm and leaning forward to bop its top triangle on Professor Kwon’s forehead. Kyungsoo watches as she lets laughter slip from her lips, as Jirachi sways from side to side but keeps looking at Kyungsoo. He tilts his head a little and holds the Pokemon's gaze, but just that. He doesn't even reach out for the Pokemon even when it pulls away from Professor Kwon and hovers him again. "And Jirachi granted it, no doubt about that. But we didn't make... the best possible wish we could ask for. I mean, you know what happened." She breathes out in a huff and shakes her head a little. "The war sparked again, people and Pokemon died. We should've asked for peace to _remain._ Or for wars to cease to exist – that could've been a better wish. So–"

She shifts in her position and walks over to where he is. She rests a hand on his shoulder, then, giving it a light squeeze before parting her lips to speak. "When Arceus summoned Jirachi that time – and just now, as well – it just... summoned Jirachi and gave us a chance to make a wish. It didn't tell Jirachi what to do – that's something even the god of all Pokemon cannot control, someone's decisions. And I think Jirachi wants to grant _your wish_ this time. I mean, the moment it came down from the skies, it looked at you. Just you. It didn't even recognize me even if I was the one who made that wish before.

"So make a wish, Kyungsoo," she whispers, giving his shoulder a light pat before squeezing it again. "It's your choice to make."

Kyungsoo gulps hard, then turns to look at Jirachi. He can easily ask for Sinyuk-ri to be restored, for the shadows of war to be wiped clean so that people may live in peace again. He can ask for Soojung to be able to find her family again after the war, or for Sunyoung's father to come back to life, can even ask for Baekhyun to regain his lost companions in battle. He can ask for _their parents_ to live again. But that's being selfish. There's always the option of going for what Professor Kwon could have asked – for peace to remain, for wars to cease to exist, for them to live in a perfect world. But where's the fun in that, he can almost hear Baekhyun saying, can almost imagine himself rolling his eyes at, but there's truth to it. How will they learn if they're living in a flawless world? How will they grow as people, as trainers who are journeying with Pokemon by their side, how to use a Pokemon's abilities and powers properly? How will they learn when to bend to a Pokemon's whims and when to stand by their decisions that are all for the good of their partners, maybe even for the good of their community? How will they learn to _live?_ He closes his eyes, then, trying to imagine his ideal world – no wars, just Pokemon battling to help each other become stronger, wiser. People actually helping other people out and having respect for Pokemon instead of treating them like slaves. Coming home to Mokpo-si, to his brother's horrible cooking, knowing that it's not the food that's the highlight of dinner – it's the conversation he holds with Seungsoo that makes the meal – every single meal they’ll be having for the rest of their lives – memorable. Then heading out into the beach at night to just watch the waves with Sunyoung and Soojung, with Baekhyun right beside him, their pinkies laced beneath the sand. And with Gardevoir telling him at the back of his mind, _you have a gym challenge tomorrow and you have the audacity to stay up late?_

He laughs to himself. He has the perfect wish in mind.

Taking a deep breath, he looks at Jirachi in the eye. "Take a tag," Professor Kwon tells him, and he obeys, reaching for one of the green strips of paper with his left hand. His right hand, he reaches out in Baekhyun's direction, but he coaxes Gardevoir to come closer with a tilt of the head. He risks a glance at Arceus, as well, addressing the god Pokemon with a curt nod, a small smile. Baekhyun says nothing, just smiles at him like _he's wishing_ Kyungsoo would wish for eternal life or infinite wishes or the prestigious Pokemon World Championship title. The ability to control minds, maybe, or some other power he's fancying at the moment – they'd discussed that when they were kids. Sunyoung wanted the gift of flight while Baekhyun wanted the ability to make everybody happy. Kyungsoo just wanted to see them smile, so he went along with it and said he wanted the ability to 'move mountains.' Or maybe Baekhyun's just wishing for him to want some time alone in the beach, in the distant shores of Sinyuk-ri, where they have the best view of the sunset. He feels the rough slide of Baekhyun's fingers between his, then Gardevoir's hand, warm and soft, on his shoulder. He can see Professor Kwon nodding at him, a soft _go_ spilling from her lips. Only then does he press his index finger and his thumb on the green tag. He thinks of all the places he's been to, thinks of that boat ride from Sinyuk-ri to the port in Jindo-ri where half of his luggage was filled with the hope that everything was just a nightmare, a really bad nightmare, and he was about to wake up. Thinks of landing in Mokpo-si and getting out of that crammed truck, only to be welcomed by the warm rays of sunshine. Then there's seeing Baekhyun again in the busy night market, _and again_ in Professor Kwon's lab. Having to beat Baekhyun to picking Treecko as his starter Pokemon because he's been planning on training Treecko for a while now. And out of all of his plans, getting Treecko was the only one that he'd been successful with.

And really, he muses now as he thinks back on all the trials he's gone through, the legendary Pokemon he has met, the people he got to work with, _save the world with,_ he doesn't mind. He'd gladly go on another journey and only keep his plans, lists, maps in his back pocket, never to be unearthed even after he's earned his eighth badge. He'd do it again, and again, and again.

 _I wish,_ he begins in his mind, then shuts his eyes tight. He can feel a wave of warmth crawling up his fingers, the veins on the back of his hand, wrapping around his wrist and shooting up his arm. He shivers when he feels it curling around his nape, wrapping around his neck in an easy, comfortable grip. _I wish we can live in a world where peace remains._ He laughs a little, licks his lips. Bites the inside of his cheek when he imagines Professor Kwon finding out and pinching him in his side. Still, he continues, _I wish we can live in a world where humans and Pokemon can coexist peacefully, where people and Pokemon both know their limits and won't push each other do insane, crazy things for the sake of power._

He takes a deep, deep breath. He can feel the thundering pulse at the back of his ears, his elbows, his knees, at the base of his throat. And he can feel Baekhyun's pulse beat strongly against his own in the fit of their hands.

He breathes out.

_I wish we were home._


	9. the next dive

Kyungsoo squints hard, shutting his eyes when sunlight hits him. He can feel the light crawling from his neck to his chin, slithering up his cheeks and then settling on his eyelids where the heat burns the most. It leaves blotches of light on his vision when he tries, tries really hard, to open his eyes again, looking at his surroundings through narrowed eyes. He holds his hand up as a shield, trying to diffuse the light somehow, but to no avail – sunlight in Mokpo-si hits like a fucking truck. And every inch of him feels too sore to try not to protest after being locked up at the back of the truck that took him and his brother from distant Jindo-ri all the way to Mokpo-si. It was an hour-long trip that felt like forever with the way the edges of the boxes kept boring wedges into his skin, leaving him with a dull ache in his muscles. It could have been worse if they'd come from the Gangwon area or maybe even Seoul, though, too many hours spent on the road just looking at places instead of catching Pokemon, so he can't complain. At least the moving has stopped now. At least they're back on solid ground after traveling for _hours_ at sea before that truck ride, with the waves crashing all around them. On a normal day, he'd love being in the middle of a huge body of water, but almost get stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing but little images of islands as markers and even the most loyal of beach boys and island-born people will begin to hate the waters a little. Just a little.

He laughs to himself. He hasn't even seen explored Mokpo-si yet but he's already a little in love. Moving from one place to another does that to people, he supposes – makes people a bit more appreciative of the concept of having that one harbor to return to time and time again. Having someplace to call _home–_

He feels something heavy land on his head, feels feathers brushing against the side of his face. When he glances up, he finds a Pelipper, _feels_ Pelipper tapping its foot on his head. Welcome to Mokpo-si, indeed.

"Aaand that should be the last of the boxes– _whoops,_ " comes Seungsoo's voice now, cracking just before the last syllable spills from his lips. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulder, then, looks around him in an effort to look for his brother, but the only thing he sees is a lone box in the trunk. And three, four pairs of feet on the other side of the door to the back of the truck. One of them belongs to Slaking – he can recognize that from a mile away. The one to Slaking's left looks like Seungsoo's. The slippers, identical to Kyungsoo's own, are a giveaway. But then Seungsoo might have handed his slippers to someone else _for some weird reason_ because some people who live along beaches prefer to walk barefoot seventy percent of the time, but that doesn't really matter. He hasn't spent years living with his brother to not know that Seungsoo still worries about that wound that has long dried up on the underside of his foot. Tough day at work, Seungsoo'd told him when he got home at nine in the evening one fine day. The laboratory he was working at was just a twenty-minute walk from their house. Seungsoo usually got home at around seven in the evening; eight at the latest. And Kyungsoo'd never admit but he'd been looking out of the window every ten minutes from the time he'd gotten off the phone with– "I know you're also tired but it would be _great_ if you helped, too, y'know?"

He looks up from where he's been staring at the feet, then blinks a few times to refocus his vision. He can see the door inching in on him as if trying to shove him back inside the truck, so he pushes that away in an instant, looks to the other side, maybe even kicks sand off the ground. And he earns a scowl from Seungsoo in response, a light pinch in his side as his brother says, "No, you can't bail out of this. Get your lazy ass moving. It's just _carrying boxes around,_ geez–" Seungsoo clicks his tongue, shakes his head, narrows his eyes at Kyungsoo and frowns at him when Kyungsoo tries to gesture at the door, his feet, the box. “You’ll be doing a lot more walking in the days to come, young one. Better get used to it and–" Then Seungsoo’s shoving the box into Kyungsoo's chest, careful not to transfer too much weight until Kyungsoo has one hand at the bottom of the box and the other bracing the edges. Seungsoo shuts the door behind him, then, and thanks the driver for the ride. To Kyungsoo, he says, "There. Make yourself useful. And _smile;_ you're not meeting new people."

Kyungsoo grins at Seungsoo in thoughtless retaliation, the corners of his mouth pulling up into a smile almost automatically. He can feel the sting at the corners, can even feel the strain in his cheeks, so he drops it as soon as Seungsoo blows a kiss in his direction. Part of him wants to throw up, but the other half's saying, let it go. Puking in foreign territory is gross and not the best way to leave a good impression. You're just at the start of your trip, your journey; _don't ruin it._ So he rolls his eyes, turns on his heel. Looks up from where he's been checking the label on the box so that he'll know where to drop it – his side of the ground or Seungsoo's, then the gray area they call 'the chaos'. He expects an expanse of sand and kids running around at an early hour, trying to make the most out of the last few days of spring break as they head to summer, but instead he finds two figures, one taller than the other. Two familiar faces. One of them, he hasn't seen in years, and the other–

Looking at each other in the eye before taking a deep breath and making a final wish. Trying to help each other get up so they can join their friends, their Pokemon in trying to end a war. Battling alongside each other – in Seoul, in Chuncheon-si, in Sokcho-si, all the way to Busan-si and then teaming up for the last time in Sobaeksan. Flying from the distant Tokchok Islands, fingers linked in a tight, tight grip. Running into each other in the desert while trying to rush their Pokemon to safety. A first match just outside a Pokemon laboratory, beating the other to claiming that one Pokemon he's long been dreaming of obtaining. A sharp and traitorous cold wrapping around his neck as he linked gazes with _the same familiar face_ in the seafood market after so long, ten long years between then thinning into a hiccup, a faint, _hello._

And then, a kiss shared on the beach as kids who didn't even know what a kiss meant before one pulled away from the other–

"Hey," Kyungsoo whispers, breathless. He gulps down and says, "It's... been a while."

Baekbeom reaches out for a tight hug, wrapping his long, long arms around Kyungsoo in a bone-crushing embrace. Kyungsoo chokes a little – on his spit, on his own breath, at Baekbeom's bright greeting as he says, "My favorite tiny!", at the way Baekhyun tilts his head, looking at him with squinted eyes and a small upward curl flaunted on a corner of his lips? He can't tell yet. All he knows right now is that Baekhyun's inching closer – one step, two steps, three – until all that separates them is Baekbeom's figure still draped all over Kyungsoo, a spark of recognition, a hitch of the breath. And that Baekhyun's smile is a fever so infectious that he can't look away even if it's too bright and blinding. So he motions for Baekhyun to come closer with a gentle coax of the hand, offering a smile just before the distance between them thins into nothing but light laughter.

"Welcome back," Baekhyun whispers, lips half pressed to Kyungsoo's ear and the stray strands of his hair. He can't stop laughing.

Kyungsoo closes his eyes and leans into Baekhyun's warm touch. He breathes out. "It's good to be home."

↻

"Not late this time around, huh?" Baekhyun says, wiggling his eyebrows at Soojung as a greeting. He cracks his neck then says, “Guess things really _are_ different now."

Soojung stops in her tracks for a moment, eyes wide open, but soon she's narrowing her eyes at him. Or at least she tries to, Kyungsoo notes as he squints, trying to see Soojung better. For the most part, she looks as if she’s on the verge of dashing back home so she can curl up in her bed again not to be woken up until late afternoon. It almost makes Kyungsoo want to dive back into his couch and just lie flat on his back there, still nursing the dull ache in his limbs, the sting of the scars on his skin that have already faded. Fatigue thick even in the stretch of his body. But then they’ve agreed to do this, have signed a contract more with their siblings than the professor, herself, that they’ll be taking on the PokeDex challenge. So he stays and watches as Soojung scrunches her face after a moment of indecision, then pinches Baekhyun in his side as he whines, “ _What?_ I didn’t do anything!"

Kyungsoo walks over to where the two are, grabbing Baekhyun by the ear to pull him away then resting a hand on Soojung's shoulder. "Play nice, kids," he mutters, then tugs harder on Baekhyun's ear when Baekhyun mumbles something about not being a kid and _shut up, you're tinier._ He doesn't say anything else, though. The pulse in his temples is still throbbing and his throat still feels too dry and tight. It's too early to be trying to reason with Baekhyun, too early to be trying to make sense of anything. He'd stayed up the whole night, the voices in his head not letting on and bugging him until he decided not to sleep anymore. He was just about to start his Pokemon journey in a few hours, after all. _No big deal._ So he got up from his bed for real at five in the morning only to be greeted by the sound of something crashing in the kitchen. Turned out, Seungsoo was trying to whip up something for him, for breakfast, instead of stirring his senses and rousing him from slumber.

“Knew you won’t be able to sleep,” Seungsoo said then, canines peeking from the corners of his mouth as he grinned at his brother. And then, as if an afterthought, “Oh shit, did I actually wake you up?"

Kyungsoo shrugged, rolled his eyes, sauntered to the couch and dove into it. Two hours before call time, he found a comfortable fit in the couch even if the window over his head was open and blowing cool wind against his back. And he hated the cold. Two hours before call time and after getting a whiff of whatever it was Seungsoo was cooking and he finally, finally, slipped into a peaceful slumber. He woke up some thirty minutes after not feeling completely recharged but at least a bit refreshed. He wasn’t nauseous and nervous anymore, could no longer feel the sea and the rocky roads tilting him off-axis. Yet he could still feel the sting at the back of his hand where the sand dug into his skin as Baekhyun laced their fingers together on the beach last night and ate dried fish with their other hand.

Kyungsoo laughs a little now and breathes out. Something things never change, ten years later or six months prior to a future he’d already been in, and it’s all good. He’s never been a fan of change, anyway.

“Feels pretty weird,” Soojung says now as she looks around, giving the place a quick scan. Kyungsoo blinks a few times then follows her gaze, craning his neck when he spots a therapy room for Pokemon to their left. There’s at least a batch of six Pokemon inside, all sporting knee braces as a Pokemon Professor makes them do squats. A few feet away, he sees three, four pots filled to the brim with nothing but berries. Must be the place where they make commercial poffins, a voice at the back of his mind says. And then another – _must be where Seungsoo’s been reassigned to;_ his brother hasn’t told him yet, but he’s positive Seungsoo’s tried to convince the higher ups to relocate him to Mokpo-si so he can be closer to his brother – when he sees the names carved in gold onto a silver plate tacked to the door. Seungsoo never explicitly detailed what he did at work but Kyungsoo knew it had something to do with cooking and saving lives. Pokemon’s lives and livers, at least; Seungsoo’s shit at cooking human food. And then he spots a gallery-looking lab to their right, the glass frosted just a little compared to that of the other laboratories. He squints, then, taking on the challenge and trying to see through the translucent sheet. He can make out figures of… a few Pokemon fetus in large tubes? People inside the lab, as well, moving around too quickly like they’re always in a rush. At first glance, he thinks the man closest to the glass walls looks familiar, but he wouldn’t trust his eyes at seven in the morning. He makes more mistakes than good deeds at such an early hour.

“Being early, you mean?” Baekhyun teases, but the soft edges at the corners of his mouth aren’t lying. And Soojung’s not fooling anyone with that spark of _something_ in her eyes, the same spark that makes the corners of her eyes crinkle at the same time that her lips curl up into a soft, soft smile. She does jab Baekhyun in the arm this time, though, and Baekhyun grabs Kyungsoo by the shoulders on impulse, using him as a shield. Kyungsoo gulps hard, then – at Baekhyun pushing him away then pulling him close and then _even closer,_ sliding his hand from where he’d grabbed Kyungsoo by the shoulders all the way down to his waist. At the way Baekhyun _wraps his arms_ around Kyungsoo and buries his face in Kyungsoo’s shoulders as Kyungsoo receives the brunt of Soojung’s jabs, each two seconds apart. At the way Soojung just smiles at them and shakes her head like she’s saying, with the way she has an eyebrow cocked at them, _Jesus,_ it’s about time you two just dropped the whole ‘we have ten whole years keeping us apart’ act. Props to you two for finally making things happen. _Props_ for finally letting go. And at the way Baekhyun just lets his face fall forward, into the crook of Kyungsoo’s neck, so that they’re in an even messier tangle of bodies, Baekhyun’s rough lips pressed to the slope of his neck smack in the middle of Professor Kwon’s laboratory.

“Ah, I thought those voices sounded familiar,” comes a voice from a few feet away, echoing through the quiet halls of the place. Two steps forward and Professor Kwon steps out of the darkness, sunlight spilling down her features, tracing the curve of her cheek and the small smile on her lips. “And nice to see that you’re early little Jung,” she says, chuckling right after. “I like this change."

Baekhyun mutters a low _yes_ under his breath, the vibrations tickling Kyungsoo’s skin. Kyungsoo shivers a little. He doesn’t shrug Baekhyun off, though.

“So, shall we?” Professor Kwon says, shoulders lifting as she takes a deep breath. A lick of her lips, then, "Just like old times?"

Kyungsoo’s lips quirk up in stimulus. He doesn’t even bite the inside of his cheek this time around even if he can feel Baekhyun’s hot breath prickling his skin, kicking his senses into overdrive, _waking him up._ He nods.

“Just like old times."

↻

The strangest thing about reliving your past is knowing that you can tweak the decisions you’ve made to come up with a different ending. Just to spice things up, really – he’s a hundred percent sure he’ll get bored knowing exactly what will happen if he submits to what his body has been ‘programmed’ to do. So he could have called dibs on Mudkip just to spite Baekhyun, or maybe he could have given Torchic a shot even if he wasn't so fond of fire-type Pokemon. Could’ve convinced Soojung to switch Pokemon with him just for fun and an entirely new experience. He could’ve gone down another path. He could’ve made _a different choice._ Still, he went with Treecko, marvelled at its differently-colored fur and ran his hand along the stretch of its body the same way that he did the day he picked his starter Pokemon. Called dibs on it even before Baekhyun and Soojung could part their lips to stake their claim. He knew they would’ve gone with the same Pokemon – sentimentality is both every trainer’s best and worst asset – anyway, but still – there’s something about taking the exact same path and trying to see how things would unfold differently, knowing that they’d come from a different past now – not a trace of the war or tsunamis or landslides, no Pokemon getting possessed by some weird, external force called ‘Team Rocket’. They’d come from a different past and had seen their distant future already. After all, they’re no longer kids; they’re adults, licensed Pokemon trainers now. And adults are supposed to learn from their mistakes.

Still, when Baekhyun challenged him to a battle minutes after they’d gotten their first Pokemon, he indulged him. Battled to the best of his ability, hoping he’d score his first win against his friend a second time around. But this time, things unfolded differently – they went full offense on the first turn and didn’t attempt to hamper each other’s Pokemon with attack-lowering moves. Kyungsoo asked Treecko to hit Mudkip with a Pound to the face with its tail, one after another, and Baekhyun told Mudkip to shake it off, fight back, fight _harder._ They weren’t feeling around for their Pokemon’s fighting style anymore; it’s already been etched onto their system, carved into their very being. But somehow it still felt both real and surreal, still felt as if they knew nothing about their Pokemon even if logic and their bodies did.

“You’re too nice. You could’ve knocked Mudkip out faster then,” Kyungsoo recalls Baekhyun saying that time, recalls Baekhyun brushing his knuckles against his cheeks before unfurling his fingers to trace the curve of Kyungsoo’s cheek with them. Then, after a deep breath, Baekhyun looked right in front of them, at the path Soojung had just taken earlier, saying she’d go ahead and get a head start this time around. _Don’t slack off, boys! And hey– See you around?_ “So, ready? Knees not feeling… wobbly anymore?"

At the back of Kyungsoo’s mind, he heard, _Ready to die together?_

He shook his head, rolled his eyes, nudged Baekhyun in his side. “My knees are fine,” he retorted. _It’s just the uncertainty that makes them feel a bit ‘wobbly.’_ Then Baekhyun reached out, hands splayed out in the thinning space between them.

He took Baekhyun’s hand without another word and gripped it tight. “Ready whenever you are."

Fast forward eight months after and here they are, standing opposite each other in the big dome. The lights all around them are bright, blinding, and the crowd on either side of the field keeps cheering. Part of Kyungsoo wants to throw up right here, right now, maybe even scurry back to the waiting room never to come out of the doors leading to the battlefield again, but _no._ He shuts his eyes, shakes his head, repeats in his mind in circles, _this is what you've worked hard all your life for. This is what the two of you have been dreaming off, Kyungsoo. Don't ruin it._ So he inches closer to the field, gulps down hard. Digs his hands in his pocket for a while, trying to thaw out his fingers, and looks up to meet Baekhyun's eyes on the other side of the field.

The last time two people from the same city faced each other in the Pokemon League for a chance to face the Champion was three, four years ago, when Ray Rizzo was up against Wolfe Glick for the third time in a row. Ray won all three times – Kyungsoo remembers that, even recalls crying the third time Ray won and Seungsoo silently wiping his tears away while shoving a bucket of popcorn in his direction. Then Ray proceeded to become the World Champion that year, besting more than a hundred trainers all over the world and showing everyone that it was possible to come out at the top not by being the most powerful, but by consistently doing well. By always, always working hard and just loving the sport, the Pokemon, the friends he's met in all the tournaments he's been in.

By not being afraid of trying new things, strategies, Pokemon, and treading new paths. _Just to spice things up,_ a voice at the back of Kyungsoo's mind says. _Just for fun._

On the other side of the field, Baekhyun’s jogging in place then tilting his head back. When Baekhyun resurfaces and meets Kyungsoo’s gaze, he mouths at Kyungsoo, before jutting out his bottom lip in a frown, _I'm going to shit in my pants!_

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and breathes out. The corners of Baekhyun's lips curl up the very next second, easing the shaking of his cheeks into something more recognizable, more _Baekhyun._ He mouths right back, _I can shit in my pants better._

The buzzer sounds off, and the display to their side lights up. Their trainer profiles go up, each of them taking up half of the screen: their name, pictures of all the six Pokemon in their party, the city they received their license in. A list of achievements, Baekhyun's side of the screen more loaded with contest wins, little league tournaments, and some regional top cuts compared to Kyungsoo's three regional championship wins and that one time he went on a kick and joined a Pokemon contest. He won first place with Pelipper that time; Baekhyun was at second place. Then after that, they attended the same regional tournament at Gangwon-do and the results were reversed – he lost to Baekhyun in three tight matches. After that, it was the tournament in North Gyeongsang where he outsmarted Baekhyun despite Baekhyun outplaying him for the majority of the match. Somehow, it was almost always like that, the two of them fighting for first place, trying to one-up each other with better strategies and peculiar picks for Pokemon. Trying to push each other harder to keep the rivalry, the spirit of the competition alive, then waiting in the sidelines after one has soaked up the spotlight, ready to give each other a handshake, a hug, a kiss in the dark. And then heading into a new competition – sometimes without the other but often together – with a renewed thirst for winning and discovering new things about Pokemon. It's one of the few routines Baekhyun has never complained about even if sometimes they have to share a tiny, tiny bed in a tiny, tiny room in the Pokemon Center. And it's one of the cycles Kyungsoo can fall into without fail, at the snap of the finger.

There's no need to get used to the subtle changes anymore, no need to recalibrate. And there's no need to find his equilibrium again even if he does tip off from time to time. Baekhyun will always be around to reel him back into that safe space between the past and the future.

Baekhyun is here to stay.

"Don't stare too long. You might fall in love," Baekhyun calls out from the other side of the field. The lights are shining down on him, too hard and too harsh, almost washing him out, but Kyungsoo can still make out the crinkles slowly forming at the corners of Baekhyun's eyes, the sudden lift of Baekhyun's shoulders. The violent upward tug on the corners of Baekhyun's lips that pull them up into the brightest grin. It's blinding.

Kyungsoo shakes his head and takes four Pokeballs from his belt pack, then slots them in the system scanner to his right. _Too late,_ he mouths at Baekhyun. He takes a deep breath. _That already happened a long time ago._

He tosses his Pokeballs in the air first, sending out his Scrafty and Arcanine against Baekhyun's Swampert and Ludicolo. He laughs a little – trust Baekhyun to go full offense in the first match of their best of three, and on the very first turn. He can picture the way this first turn will pan out now – Baekhyun will summon the rain with Ludicolo using Rain Dance, then he'll make his Swampert mega evolve. With the boost in speed and attacking prowess brought about by the mega evolution _and_ the rain, he's pretty certain Arcanine will take a beating on turn one of the match. Not the best position to be in, he muses, but then Swampert won't get the speed boost yet, so–

"Arcanine, Will-o-Wisp on the Swampert, now!" he calls out. From where he is, he can see Baekhyun laughing a little, shaking his head. He knows this look, knows that distinct tilt of the head and the squint of the eyes and the cock of the eyebrow – this is Baekhyun-speak for 'predictable' or 'you walked into my trap' or 'you really think I'll make it that easy?' But there is no trap to walk into – Baekhyun's telling Swampert to summon a shield to protect itself while Ludicolo summons the rain using Rain Dance. And Kyungsoo's saying, "Scrafty, don't let Ludicolo move! Fake Out on the Ludicolo, now!" Part of him feels bad because Ludicolo's one of Pokemon that he's seen grow, has worked with more than thrice – to save a city from being wrecked by a Snorlax, to save Baekhyun from being beaten to a pulp, to save Baekhyun from drowning in the sea during one of those beach trips of theirs with Sunyoung and Soojung. Sokcho-si, was it? He can't recall anymore. He's already formed too many good and fond memories with all three of them, with Baekhyun, that sometimes he mixes them all up in his head.

It's easy to get lost in good memories. And it's easy to find his way home with Baekhyun as a beacon of light, the niggling voice at the back of his head telling him which way to head, which path to take. When to breathe and when to lean back, anticipating the fall.

Baekhyun's eyes widen when Scrafty rushes to where Ludicolo is, slapping its face with both of its hand. Ludicolo stutters in its steps, then, falling to the ground, stunned and immobile, but it's still breathing. And Swampert's roaring now, loud and bright, bigger and bolder in its mega evolved form. Kyungsoo cringes a little, almost covers his ears at the sound of Swampert's cry. It's almost at if it's determined to bring down Arcanine in one hit, but then it can't – not after falling prey to Arcanine's Will-o-Wisp and being crippled by the burn. And Kyungsoo has trained his Arcanine to be more defensive than most – "Classic Do Kyungsoo," he recalls Baekhyun commenting one time, then letting out a long sigh. "You are _so predictable._ If you could stall out your opponent with a burn on his last Pokemon and you sucking energy from it with Leech Seed, you would."

"I did that before," Kyungsoo's said then. They were sitting on the floor in the trainer's quarters back in Suwon-si that time. Kyungsoo was running through a list of Pokemon he'd trained in the past and trying to put together a new team for the upcoming regional tournament for Gyeonggi-do. Baekhyun'd picked his six Pokemon last night – after bugging Kyungsoo for suggestions, of course, but at least Baekhyun rewarded him with kisses on the cheek, the chest, all the way down to the dip of his torso. And warmth at the height of winter when he draped his limbs all over Kyungsoo that night, falling asleep in Kyungsoo's arms and humming in his sleep. Now, Baekhyun was drumming a beat on his thigh with cold fingers. It meant, you already picked the best team possible earlier; so stop getting so worked up on that and work on me a little, _come on–_ So Kyungsoo lifted his gaze from his messy writing on the paper and breathed out, then leaned against Baekhyun in his side. "Do you think I should do it again?"

"That would be _the most annoying thing ever–_ "

"That's you."

Baekhyun snorted. Stuck his tongue out. Gasped when Kyungsoo craned his neck to press a soft kiss to his lips, then hummed as Kyungsoo sucked on his bottom lip. "You still like me, though," Baekhyun said between whimpers, groans, soft ah's as Kyungsoo's sucked marks on the underside of his neck, then pressed the heel of his palm against Baekhyun's tenting erection. "A lot."

"I do," Kyungsoo admitted, lips still pressed to Baekhyun's skin. He could feel Baekhyun shivering at the touch yet leaning in even more, could feel Baekhyun's nails digging into his skin. Could feel a familiar sizzle of heat as Baekhyun, despite already being consumed by the waves of pleasure and with his eyes shut, still reached over to run his hand up Kyungsoo's thigh, stroking him through his pants. His breath hitched. "And that's the most annoying thing about it."

Kyungsoo blinks a few times, refocusing. Swampert's charging towards Arcanine now, heading straight for the fire-type Pokemon with an Aqua Jet straight to the gut. Scrafty's mostly unharmed but pumped up, already running towards Ludicolo to attack it with a Knock Off to remove whatever item it may be using to boost its attacking power with. Meters away, Baekhyun's still smiling, the corners of his mouth curled up in the smallest, smallest smile, but his eyes are focused, ablaze. And his hands are balled into tight fists. This isn't Byun Baekhyun the lover anymore; this _is_ Byun Baekhyun, the same kid who'd greeted him one time by tossing a round shell in his direction, straight to his nose, the same kid who'd yelled, _Hah! You're mine now! I caught you!_ The same kid who'd claimed he'd be a Pokemon master someday, _just you wait and see, Do Kyungsoo! I'll beat the crap out of you!_

The same kid he met nearly his entire lifetime ago back in that beach in Sinyuki-ri and swore, just a week into their friendship, that they'd be the best of friends, forever. That they'd climb the ranks together. That they'd be facing each other in a real match someday, in front of a crowd of thousands, and have the best match the world has ever seen.

He's determined to give Baekhyun that. Do Kyungsoo always keeps his promises, after all.

"Scafty, Iron Head on the Swampert, now!" he calls out, nodding at his Pokemon the moment Scrafty looks over its shoulder to address him with a nod. He takes a deep breath, then, and looks for his Arcanine – it's staring Baekhyun's Swampert down, then ducking to slide beneath Swampert when Swampert pushes itself off the ground with its tail. "Hidden Power, do it!" he tells his Pokemon, then, just when he sees Swampert hovering Arcanine, and he watches as the force of the attack pushes Swampert even higher into the sky.

"Jesus, fuck– Careful! Use Aqua Jet to get down safely!" Baekhyun screams in Swampert's direction. He balls his hands into fists, squinting his eyes as if in an attempt to see Swampert's face better. The water surrounding it has thickened into waves, cushioning the fall of his Pokemon and burrowing a nasty dent on the stage. He breathes out, then. Gulps down hard. Nods. Then breathes out until the corners of his lips are melting into a small smile.

From a corner of Kyungsoo's eye, he sees Ludicolo getting back on its feet, mouth wide open to aim an attack at– He can't tell at the moment. Ludicolo isn't facing any of the Pokemon in particular, just taking a deep, deep breath as if summoning all of its energy and focusing it onto just one attack. Maybe it's waiting for a command from Baekhyun – there are some Pokemon that, despite training with their owners for a long time already, still wait for an order, for a command to follow – but then Ludicolo's one of Baekhyun's Pokemon whose intuition has saved itself far too many times already to be ignored. Camerupt may have its moment where it wants nothing but to just lounge in a corner and be Baekhyun's personal heater, but Ludicolo isn't anything like that. This isn't how Ludicolo normally is.

Kyungsoo gulps down hard. Blinks a few times, as well, as he narrows his eyes to try to see inside Ludicolo's mouth that's wide open even more. If he sees icicles then it's probably going to attack with a powerful Icy Wind. If he sees green light then it's planning to suck energy out of Scrafty with a Giga Drain to the gut. But then he sees water foaming at the corners of Ludicolo's mouth, bubbling like Ludicolo's boiling liquid inside its own body. Half of Kyungsoo cringes – the attack is two parts disgusting and three parts threatening. Half of him wonders if Ludicolo's planning to go for a Scald to get that nice chance of burning his Scrafty and keep it from dishing out too much damage. He _is_ certain of one thing, though – Baekhyun's Ludicolo has been trained to dish out the most powerful attacks. One hit from Ludicolo can leave a huge dent in Scrafty's health, or even take out Arcanine in one hit.

Ludicolo manages to push Scrafty away with a Scald attack to the chest, the force of the attack sending Scrafty crashing against the wall behind it. Never mind that the walls, the boundaries of the field, are twenty meters away from the playing field; Ludicolo was able to push Scrafty back _that_ far. It's a testament to how powerful Ludicolo is, a testament to how lucky Kyungsoo is that Scarfy hadn't gotten a burn. If luck wasn't smiling down on him then he could've easily ended up watching Scrafty getting crippled by the burn and falling to the ground, but–

He curls his hands into fists. Tightens them until he can feel his nails digging into his skin, more to remind himself to _focus,_ that the timer's ticking, he doesn't have much time. That he should decide _now_ and stop thinking of every single thing out there that isn't this match he's engaged in.

"Okay! Now, Aqua Jet on the Scrafty!" Baekhyun is soon calling out. Which means– "And Ludicolo, Hydro Pump on the Arcanine!"

"Shit," Kyungsoo mutters under his breath, shaking his head and seething when he hears one of his bones crack. There's a huge chance that Ludicolo might miss its attack, but if it _does_ hit then that's sure to take out Arcanine. At least one Will-o-Wisp, a voice at the back of his mind says, _one last fuck you._ So he orders Arcanine to burn Ludicolo as a last resort, just in case Arcanine isn't able to dodge the attack or _does_ by a width of a hair, but gets rammed into the rocks with the force of the attack, anyway. Any opponent wouldn't want to take a burn to any of their Pokemon, offensive or otherwise. They're not just against the opponent's – _Baekhyun's_ – Pokemon here; everything that isn't Kyungsoo's Pokemon isn't an ally. The timer is their enemy, the aftermath of the attacks fired is their enemy. Heck, even the field, the very surface they're battling on, can be an enemy of theirs if they don't make full use of it before the opponent does.

 _The very surface they're battling on–_ He shuts his eyes tight for the quickest second and almost laughs to himself. Two trainers from the same city, _representing_ Mokpo-si, and neither of them has pulled off that very stunt they're known for here in the Pokemon League where possibly every other person in the bleachers is waiting for one of them to blow things up. Or at least the technique they'd popularized after wrecking havoc on every gym they've been to. Kyungsoo still remembers it, that time when he almost burned down the entire platform in Minseok's gym and basically melted all the ice lined along the walls of Minseok's cave in the city, using Scald on every surface until the place was much too humid to even be staying in. And then that time when he had his Excadrill digging holes into Jino's gym in Gangneung-si so that the force of Mamoswine's Earthquake attack won't be as powerful anymore. And then there's also that match against Joonmyun in the Tokchok Island gym where he'd made the water too hot one minute and then turned it ice cold the next second. Tricky, because his Pokemon had a bit of difficulty battling on the field, as well, but that doesn't matter anymore – he made it through that battle. They earned a badge.

And here they are now, in Jeju-do, battling against Baekhyun for a chance to advance to the next round and a chance to battle the five strongest trainers in the world.

"Alright," he mutters under his breath. He takes a deep breath, then, curling in his fingers all the more. He can't even feel his nails digging into his skin anymore but he _can_ feel the thumping in his chest, the thundering pulse at the base of his throat. And he can feel the force of the wicked smile Baekhyun is wearing on the other side of the field reaching out to him, grabbing at the corners of his mouth and pulling them up into a violent grin. "Let's do this– Arcanine, Heat Wave on the floor!"

From where he is, he can see Baekhyun cocking an eyebrow at him and shaking his head. You saw it coming, he's tempted to say, to scream out. _You saw it coming from a mile away and you thought it was obvious so you thought, hey, Kyungsoo probably won’t do that. Kyungsoo doesn’t like predictable. Kyungsoo just wants to win–_ He doesn't, though, instead telling Arcanine to go concentrate every ounce of energy it has onto the attack so it can warm up the entire field. Arcanine nods in an instant and begins running around the dome in tight circles, a stream of flames spilling from the corners of its mouth, some of the tongues of flame slithering along the walls of the arena without meaning to. And then Kyungsoo begins to hear it – the beginnings of cheers, of claps, of people saying, _now, you're talking!_ People chanting their names like they're pitting even words and syllables against each other in a competition to see which rolls off whose tongue better. And if he strains his hearing enough, he's sure he might even hear the faint sizzle of heat beneath his feet. _Not the time for that,_ he tells himself, though, as he watches his Pokemon circle the arena and release inextinguishable flames. Arcanine looks like a rolling ball of fire, looks like a trail of light, Kyungsoo muses, with the way it blazes along the circumference of the field. It almost looks as if it can take on that Swampert and take it straight to the ground with another Hidden Power to the gut, even with the possibility of Ludicolo firing off another Hydro Pump anytime soon. Heck, Arcanine even looks like it can take out Baekhyun's entire team if it wanted to. If it had the opportunity to.

He takes a deep, deep breath. Maybe he can do Arcanine that favor. It's the first time he's bringing it to a big match outside of those little league tournaments he'd joined in the past. Maybe they can pull this off.

"Scald on the Arcanine!" Baekhyun calls out this time, eyebrows furrowed as he points in Arcanine's direction. “Crank up the power, c’mon!"

Good move, Kyungsoo muses – at a time like this, even if Baekhyun _sort of_ has the upperhand based on type match ups alone, he can't risk missing another attack and doing no damage at all while Kyungsoo sets up the field for the next wave of attacks, or even for Kyungsoo to take down one of his Pokemon. Worse, even both. Now, even with all of Arcanine's speed, Ludicolo still manages to nail that Scald attack straight to its face, stopping Arcanine in its tracks and sending it crashing to wall of the field. Kyungsoo takes a deep, rattling breath, then, at the same time that Baekhyun grins just opposite him, meters away from where he’s standing. He breathes out when he sees Arcanine's health meter on the display stop just before it hits forty percent, then coughs out when he sees his Arcanine shaking off the droplets of water that have caught on its fur. He can feel his stomach lurching in several different directions and the pulse at the back of his knees thrumming, almost making him topple over. He can feel the thumping at the base of his throat grow stronger, more uncontrollable, making it difficult for him to breathe. And Baekhyun looks like he's seconds away from calling out another attack to knock out Arcanine for good, so he tells Arcanine, "Later. I'll need you again later," recalling it to its capsule and clipping it back to his belt pack. “Arcanine, return!"

"You know who I want to see!" Baekhyun calls out, lips quirked up into a bright, blinding grin. “C’mon, do me a favor, now! Gimme a good march!"

Kyungsoo doesn't look away, but he does feel for another Pokeball in his belt pack. Settling on one, he presses a thumb to the surface and plucks it off the pack. He grips it tight, then, feeling for that first shake of the capsule, the first sign of life, the first jerk of the body that tells him that the Pokemon on the other side of the shell isn't just ready to burst from its capsule; it's _excited_ to battle. Then he takes a deep breath and presses the button at the middle, but draws the capsule close to this lips before calling forth his next Pokemon.

"Go, Sceptile!” he screams out, tossing the Pokeball in the air.

Baekhyun’s grin on the other side of the field is wild, wicked, _infectious._ It makes Kyungsoo shiver, makes his breath hitch, then makes his lips curl up into a grin.

“Giga Drain on the Swampert, now!” he calls out, and takes a deep breath. “Let’s aim for the win!"

↻

Kyungsoo wins the match in two tight victories over Baekhyun, with the last ten minutes of the battle being some of the most _torturous_ minutes of his life.

He can still recall the last match up – it was his Gardevoir and Scrafty against Baekhyun's Swampert and Ludicolo. A repeat of the the second match's first turn, except all the Pokemon on the field were already at half their health, close to passing out on the battered ground. And it had been around thirty minutes since the last battle started. Ludicolo had successfully set up the rain for _a second time,_ and now Swampert, in its mega evolved form, was free to wreck havoc on Kyungsoo's team even before Kyungsoo could have his Pokemon steady their aim at the Pokemon they had to take down at all costs. That was the power of a balanced rain team, Kyungsoo mused then as Swampert dashed across the field to attack Gardevoir with an Aqua Jet, the water-type attack even being boosted by the rain. That was the beauty in having a team that capitalized on making full use of _everything_ and not just a Pokemon's attacking power. Baekhyun was utilizing the weather, Swampert's ability, _the field,_ the very thing that led Kyungsoo to victory in the first battle when Ludicolo eventually went down to a really nasty burn and Pelipper's Air Slash attack.

"Let's just finish this, _god,_ " he remembers Baekhyun groaning then, a small, easy smile pulling up at the corners of his lips and reaching his eyes. Baekhyun had his eyebrows furrowed a little then, sort of like he couldn't decide what to feel at the moment: fatigue, frustration, excitement, surrender, maybe more. The desire to just curl up in bed, his head on Kyungsoo's lap as Kyungsoo recounted the many ways he could have secured a win on turn one of the second battle. "Ten minutes, max, Soo, I swear to god, if we don't finish this in five turns–"

"Your rain expires," Kyungsoo'd said then. He dug his hands in his pockets and let out a heavy breath. "And I win."

" _Wrong,_ " Baekhyun retorted, eyes sharpening in accord. Then he was frowning at Kyungsoo, seething, muttering through gritted teeth, "My rain expires and I _show you_ how my team can still function outside the rain mode."

Then Kyungsoo shrugged, cracked his neck, flexed his fingers. They wouldn't stop shaking. And the lurching in his stomach wouldn't subside, he didn't even know why. It was a toss-up between the two of them being on stage for close to an hour already and that soft smile on Baekhyun's lips tickling his senses. Or maybe it was both. "Alright. Humor me," he'd said, then, and drummed his fingers on his thigh. "Or I can just show you how I can beat you with your rain still up. Can’t promise that I’ll go easy on you, though."

"You never go easy on me." Baekhyun jutted out his bottom lip in that little pout that, on most days, just made Kyungsoo want to shove his palm into Baekhyun's face... then make him want to slide the same palm to the collar of Baekhyun's shirt so he could pull Baekhyun closer for a kiss. "And if you ever do this time around, I'll kick your ass."

Kyungsoo chuckled. Breathed out, as well, and bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing out loud and smiling too much. Not right now, a voice at the back of his mind kept saying. _Not where the lights wash Baekhyun out._ "Looking forward to it," he answered, then, and clasped his hands together in front of himself. The next thing he knew, Baekhyun was snorting, shaking his head, rolling his eyes, poking his tongue out at Kyungsoo as he mouthed, _Don't you dare choke on your game again or I'll really kick your ass._

He nodded. Promised to himself and to Baekhyun, _I'll win this._ Then, with a faint exhale, he tilted his chin up and called out to his Pokemon, "Okay, let's make this quick! Gardevoir, use Trick Room to speed Scrafty up! Scrafty, Knock off on that Ludicolo!"

Baekhyun cocked an eyebrow at him and gaped at the drop of the last syllable. Then he was shaking his head and saying, "Double up on the Gardevoir with Waterfall and Scald! _Knock it out!_ "

Baekhyun wasn't able to knock Gardevoir out in those two hits, though. His Pokemon would have if Scrafty hadn't made an intervention at the very last minute, rushing between the two instead of in Ludicolo's direction and smashing the ground with a Drain Punch to distract Baekhyun’s Pokemon while Gardevoir set up Trick Room. The slower Pokemon on Kyungsoo's team would be able to move first for the next ten minutes, then, completely outplaying Baekhyun with the rain still up. Still, Baekhyun didn't give up – Kyungsoo never expected him to – kept maximizing the power boost from the rain, capitalizing on Scald's burn chance to hamper Scrafty from dishing out so much damage on his Pokemon. Crushing rocks with its attacks and lifting those rocks off the ground to chuck them at Gardevoir so his Pokemon could at least whittle Gardevoir's health down to just under ten percent. And on the very last turn that rain was up, right after Scrafty fainted from the burn Ludicolo had inflicted on the Pokemon, Gardevoir dodged Swampert and Ludicolo's attacks by teleporting right behind them and firing off a powerful Hyper Voice. Kyungsoo laughed – at Gardevoir pulling off the most unexpected move at the most important turn in the tournament, at the push and pull of shock and amusement on Baekhyun's features in the way his mouth hung agape, at Seungsoo actually making a good call by reminding Kyungsoo to _never_ make Gardevoir forget how to teleport from one place to another using its power.

Some things never change, Kyungsoo mused then, breathing out a long sigh. Then, looking at Baekhyun who was shaking his head and _cackling_ on the other side of the field, he whispered to himself, _and some things don't ever need to change, after all._

It was the longest recorded match in the history of the Pokemon League in Korea, the longest two trainers _from the same city_ had duked it out on stage for a chance to advance to the final round against the country's elite trainers. As soon as the buzzer sounded off and the commentators proclaimed Kyungsoo as the winner, Baekhyun had dashed across the field, past his Pokemon and over to where Kyungsoo was. Kyungsoo bended his knees a bit, prepared to take the force of Baekhyun tackling him to the ground or even just launching himself onto Kyungsoo so they could be a messy tangle of limbs. Yet Baekhyun stopped in his tracks even before the tips of their shoes touched, even before Baekhyun could slide his arms around Kyungsoo's waist and Kyungsoo could pull Baekhyun closer and whisper, _loser,_ in Baekhyun's ear. Then Baekhyun was looking at Kyungsoo in the eye and tilting his head, lips parted in thought, chest heaving and cheeks flushed in a blush of pink.

"If Gardevoir didn't teleport," Kyungsoo began, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat before continuing, "You could've won."

Baekhyun snorted, shook his head. Reached out to pinch Kyungsoo in the side, then in the stomach as he said, "If we weren't in the middle of this big crowd, I'd be kissing you senseless right now."

Kyungsoo laughed a little. "I _dare_ you."

Baekhyun cocked an eyebrow at him, laughter spilling from the corners of his mouth. He was leaning in, but not quite enough for the tips of their noses to touch. His lips were trembling. "Never thought you were into that."

Kyungsoo took a deep breath. This was it, he mused, the start of another challenge, another chapter of their story where nothing but them pushing each other away and pulling each other closer, too close for comfort, to keep each other on their toes happens. Only seconds after his victory over Baekhyun and here they were again, rushing into another battle, heart-first. And the strangest thing was that _yes,_ he was considering it, crushing their lips together in front of this crowd of thousands and breathing Baekhyun in, the blood and salt in Baekhyun's mouth drowning the sweet taste of victory at the back of his teeth. He was considering taking that leap of faith into Baekhyun's arms. And he _knew_ Baekhyun was considering the same with the way Baekhyun kept shifting his gaze from his eyes to the swell of his mouth and then back up, back to safety, his harbor, a link to home.

So Kyungsoo took a step forward. Another, and he could smell the faint scent of sweat in Baekhyun's hair. And then another until the tips of their toes touched, until he could feel the light movement of Baekhyun's toes against his own because _goddammit, Kyungsoo, those sneakers are– Y'know what, the first thing we're going to do with your prize money is to win a nice pair of sneakers and some candy and–_

"What color did you want for the pillars again?" Baekhyun asks now, looking over his shoulder with eyes blown wide open. He scratches the slope of his neck, furrows his eyebrows when Kyungsoo doesn't say a thing. Then he rolls his eyes before walking in Kyungsoo's direction as he says, "Yah! I said, _what color did your picky ass want again for the–_ "

"Pillars. In front," Kyungsoo finishes. He takes a deep breath and looks around them, dragging his gaze across the room, from the narrow pathway to the entrance to the field behind them, possibly ten times the size of his old house in Sinyuk-ri. "For the gym. _Our gym._ "

Baekhyun stops in his tracks for a moment, eyebrows lifting and lips pressing together into a thin, thin line. A heartbeat and then he's laughing a little, shaking his head, reaching out for Kyungsoo as soon as they're only an arm's reach from each other. "Construction's almost done and you _still_ can't believe this is happening?" he says in between packets of laughter, but soon the jumps in his voice even out into something steadier, something a little less playful, less teasing. And a bit more serious but still so characteristically Baekhyun. Kyungsoo knows this look, knows what Baekhyun means by thinning his lips into a line but letting the curl at the corners remain, knows what Baekhyun is _trying to say_ but can't seem to find the words for with the way he tilts his head and rests his hands on Kyungsoo's nape, clasping them to settle at the base of Kyungsoo's neck – _I can't believe it, either, but y'know, if you really believe that this thing's happening then I can try picturing the same future with you._ Baekhyun's so close now, close enough that Kyungsoo can see the way Baekhyun's lips are trembling a little, close enough that he can make out the last few marks of that wound he'd left on Baekhyun's mouth a few days ago (a complete accident, he swears; it's Baekhyun's fault he kept denying Kyungsoo release for at least half an hour). Close enough that he can see the faint scars on Baekhyun's cheeks, the cut along his jaw, all of which are from the war that could have happened but no longer did. A reminder of everything they've gone through _and_ triumphed over. Of all the paths they've walked down that have led them to where they are now – back in their little island miles away from Mokpo-si, back in Sinyuk-ri and building a gym in their tiny village after the one in Pohang-si got shut down almost a year ago. And they're alone in this room, in the field where they'll soon be entertaining one challenger after another, sizing them up to see if they're worthy of the Light Badge from two trainers who didn't consider training fairy-types until Kyungsoo had to face Professor Kwon in the final battle of the Pokemon League.

"Well, I can, but–" Kyungsoo laughs a little, shakes his head. Looks at Baekhyun in the eye again only to see that silly look on his face that he's only ever seen through Baekhyun's eyes. "But it still feels–"

"Strange? Weird?" Baekhyun leans in, inching even closer until their foreheads bump. Kyungsoo can smell the scent of the sea and the sand in Baekhyun's hair. Or maybe this has always been how Baekhyun smelled – a reminder of home. "We went up against, what, a _thousand legendary Pokemon–_ "

"Just ten. Don't exaggerate."

"–and we almost died saving the world– _shut up, don't ruin my moment_ –and you think, _you still think_ the two of us building the first ever doubles gym _in the history of Korea_ is weird?"

Kyungsoo laughs a little and moves closer, just stopping when his lips hover Baekhyun's own. He cranes his neck, then, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of Baekhyun's nose, then to the tip of its bridge where Baekhyun's scrunching up his face. It still feels _surreal,_ he was supposed to say earlier – them having their own gym in an island that was washed away by a tsunami in a past they'd rewritten, them leading the gym _together_ even if Sunyoung has already told them too many times that their doubles synchronization is the worst the country has seen in years. Them actually being here, in this moment, instead of dying the moment they went up against a rampaging Rayquaza back in Sobaeksan in another lifetime. The perfect fit of their limbs and the way their bodies align. All those ten years stretched between them thinning into just a hitch of the breath and a soft gurgle from Baekhyun as he murmurs, " _What?_ "

"It feels surreal, all of this," Kyungsoo confesses after a while, voice firm, resolute. Then he presses a kiss to a corner of Baekhyun's mouth before continuing, "Including _this._ "

Baekhyun snorts, wrinkles his nose, shakes his head. Drops one hand to pinch Kyungsoo in his side, then rests the same warm hand on the small of Kyungsoo's back. The harsh white lights wash Baekhyun out for a quick second, blinding Kyungsoo and stunning him, and the next thing he knows Baekhyun's hands are all over him – sliding up his sides, curling around his nape, fingers brushing along the slope of his neck, palms cupping his cheeks and coaxing him to move even closer, to bring their bodies to a nice, perfect fit and their mouths in an inelegant slide of warm, willing skin. Suddenly, it all feels too real – every brush of Baekhyun's skin against his scar-stained limbs, every lick along the cavern of his mouth and every suck on his bottom lip, his tongue, the underside of his jaw. The loud thumping in his chest set to the beating in Baekhyun's own, Baekhyun's pattering pulse on his skin making him shiver all over, making him surrender. Every hitch of Baekhyun's breath when Kyungsoo seals his mouth on Baekhyun's warm skin and sucks a mark there, and another, and another, like he's mapping out a path to their next big destination, the next journey, the next big challenge. And the slow-forming smile on Baekhyun's lips that leaves marks on Kyungsoo's skin as they surface to kiss again, slow and languid, like they have no need for air.

"Still feels surreal?" Baekhyun asks when they part, lips swollen, slick with spit.

Kyungsoo laughs, bright and loud. He can nod, say yes, wave the white flag and surrender, but he can't give in just yet. So he shakes his head and leans in, capturing Baekhyun's lips in another kiss, and another, and another, finally reaching the harbor that he’s long been searching for. And Baekhyun keeps giving, stays in the warm fit of their bodies, dropping anchor once and for all. They are two powerful waves crashing into familiar shores, two powerful waves melding into one and submitting into each other's arms. They are not at the end of a journey – they’ve just begun, just unfolded a new map, ready to tackle new streets, towns, cities that seem oddly familiar, sort of like there’s a piece of them to be recovered from every place they’re just about to discover.

They are home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ☆ thank you for sticking with me and this pokemon journey until the very end! for notes (explanation on pokemon terms, certain details mentioned, and the like) please go to the next chapter.
> 
> again, thank you very much! ♥


	10. ☆ notes ☆

**☆ notes for 'here's a map; now let's get lost together.' ☆**

  
  
1\. The plural form of ‘Pokemon’ is also ‘Pokemon’, _not_ 'Pokemon _s_ ’.  
  
2\. It is said that Ralts presses the tip of its red ‘crown’ to a person to be able to feel his emotions.  
  
3\. _Knowing each other like the back of their hands makes it easier to dodge powerful attacks._ A mini game in the Pokemon handheld games called 'Pokemon Amie' makes it possible to ‘play’ with your Pokemon to form stronger bonds with them. A Pokemon with maximum ‘friendship strength’ will be able to dodge moves in battle _and_ be able to score more critical hits agains the opponent.  
  
4\. **On places in Korea:** -do is for provinces or ‘regions’, -si is for cities, -gun is for counties, and -ri is for villages.  
  
5\. **Shadow Pokemon** are Pokemon that have been ‘converted’ from good to evil and, in the process, lose their ability to feel any emotions. These Pokemon were featured in Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness.  
  
6\. A Pokemon trainer may only carry up to six Pokemon at a time. Everything else gets deposited to the Pokemon box system. Each ‘box’ can hold thirty Pokemon.  
  
7\. **Hurricane** is the most powerful non-contact flying-type attack. It becomes a 100% accurate move instead of its original 75% accuracy when the rain is up. However, it becomes only 50% accurate under intense sunlight/drought.  
  
8\. Female Kirlia evolve into Gardevoir. Only a male Kirlia may evolve into a Gallade using a Damn Stone, but without it it will evolve into a Gardevoir at level 30.  
  
9\. **Sheer Cold,** along with **Fissure, Guillotine, and Horn Drill,** is a Pokemon move that guarantees a knock out when it hits. The accuracy of the move depends on the level of the user and the opposing Pokemon. The formula is: Accuracy = ((level of user - level of target) + 30)%  
  
10\. Both Kyungsoo and Baekhyun wear their key stones in a ring, while Jongdae and Chanyeol wear theirs in an arm band.  
  
11\. A **Pokemon ability** is a game mechanic activated everytime a Pokemon is sent out in battle. Most of the time, Pokemon abilities are beneficial to the user, but in some cases they have been proven to do otherwise. In line with this, **hidden abilities** are ‘alternate abilities’ that Pokemon can have when they are obtained through certain means – i.e. through the Pokemon Dream World or the DexNav.  
  
12\. **Pokerus** is literally a Pokemon virus that is obtained through mysterious means. Pokerus can be passed on from one Pokemon to another so long as one keeps the ‘affected’ Pokemon in his party as he battles and levels up his other Pokemon. While a Pokemon has Pokerus, it gains twice as mouth ‘effort values’ (EVs) from battling, depending on the Pokemon specie it will be facing.  
  
13\. Aaron Zheng, Park Sejun, Ray Rizzo, and Wolfe Glick are, in fact, real people. They are some of the best competitive Pokemon battlers in the world, with Aaron’s best finish being #3 in the world in 2013, Sejun's being World Champion in 2014, Ray’s being World Champion thrice in a row, from 2010-2012, and Wolfe’s being a two-time US national champion and competing in the top 8 of the World Championships multiple times in the past decade.  
  
14\. **Mirage Pokemon** are strong holographic copies of Pokemon that are even capable of learning moves that are not usually obtainable through normal means. They are created through the Mirage System made by Dr. Yung in the anime special, _The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon._  
  
15\. **Hidden Power** is an attack whose type and power depend largely on the 'individual values’ (IVs) that each Pokemon is born with. It is the only know Pokemon attack that can receive same-type attack bonus (where a Pokemon move’s attack power is amplified by 50% when the Pokemon using it is of the same type, e.g. the fire-type Charizard using the fire-type attack Heat Wave) from all eighteen Pokemon types (Normal, Fighting, Ghost, Psychic, Bug, Grass, Fire, Water, Electric, Ground, Rock, Flying, Ice, Dragon, Poison, Steel, Dark, and Fairy).  
  
15\. **DNA Splicers** are an item available in Pokemon Black and White 2 onwards used to fuse Kyurem with either Zekrom or Reshiram to form Black Kyurem and White Kyurem, respectively.  
  
16\. _"Rayquaza is the most powerful Pokemon in the entire world.”_ Technically, Arceus, the god of all Pokemon, is the most powerful creature to exist, sporting a base stat total of 720, but in Rayquaza’s mega evolved form, Rayquaza gains a 100-point stat boost to bolster its 680 base stat total to 780, making it more powerful than the god of all Pokemon, itself.  
  
17\. The last attack that Rayquaza fired off towards the end of **make a wish** is Outrage. **Outrage** is the most powerful contact dragon-type attack that lasts for 2-3 turns, locking the user onto that move until the thrashing ends. Once it does, the user will be left in a state of confusion.  
  
  
  
**POKEMON ABILITIES:** (in the order they were mentioned in the fic)  
\- **Swift Swim** doubles a Pokemon’s speed stat in the rain.  
\- **Magic Bounce** reflects status condition-inducing moves and stat-lowering moves.  
\- **Levitate** allows a Pokemon to not be affected by ground-type moves and entry hazards.  
\- **Intimidate** lowers the opposing Pokemon’s attack stat by one stage.  
\- **Pixilate** turns all damage-inducing normal-type moves known by the user into fairy-type moves.  
\- **Mold Breaker** negates the effects of all Pokemon abilities.  
  
  
  
**ITEMS:** (in the order they were mentioned in the fic)  
\- **Lum Berry** is a berry that can cure a Pokemon of any status ailment except confusion – meaning, sleep, paralysis, poison, burn, and freeze.  
\- **Safety Goggles** is a key item in most Pokemon games that allows the trainer to go through a desert or an area with a brewing sandstorm without any difficulty. When equipped to a Pokemon during battle, the Pokemon will be unaffected by powder attacks (Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Poison Powder) and weather damage (from the sandstorm and from hail).  
\- **Sitrus Berry** is a berry that heals up 1/4 of a Pokemon’s health when its energy drops to below half.  
\- **Eviolite** is an item to be held by Pokemon that are not yet in their final evolution stage. If the condition is fulfilled then it boosts the Pokemon’s defense and special defense by 50%.  
\- **Enigma Berry** is a berry that heals up 1/4 of the Pokemon’s health when hit by a super effective move.  
\- **Full Restore** is a Pokemon medicine that heals a Pokemon to its full health and alleviates all status conditions (i.e. sleep, paralysis, poison, burn, freeze).  
\- **Revive** is a Pokemon medicine that restores a Pokemon to half its full health after having fainted.  
\- **Oran Berry** is a berry that heals up 10 HP of a Pokemon’s health when its energy drops to below half.  
\- **Nomel and Pinap Berries** are spicy-sour berries that can increase a Pokemon’s Toughness.  
\- **Full Heal** is a Pokemon medicine that can lift all status conditions (i.e. sleep, paralysis, poison, burn, freeze).  
\- **Assault Vest** is the item that both Hippowdon and Pelipper were holding during battle. It boosts the holder’s special defense (ability to take non-contact attacks) by 50% but at the cost of not being able to use non-attacking moves.  
\- **Life Orb** is the item that Torterra was holding during Jino’s battle against Kyungsoo. It boosts any move’s power by 30% but at the cost of 10% of the Pokemon’s max health everytime it attacks.  
\- **Choice Scarf** is the item Kyungsoo was supposed to give Ralts but wasn’t successful because the Pokemon shrugged him off. The Choice Scarf boosts a Pokemon's speed by 1.5x at the cost of being locked onto just one move.  
\- **Fire Stone** is a stone that causes Vulpix to evolve into Ninetales, Growlithe into Arcanine, Eevee into Flareon, and Pansear to Simisear.  
\- **Cherish Ball** is a special Pokeball used only for Pokemon distributed through official Game Freak events.  
  
  
  
  


**playlist** – _wayward paths,_ [# 1](http://8tracks.com/joonma/wayward-paths-part-i) and [# 2](http://8tracks.com/joonma/wayward-paths-part-ii) ☆ [**pokemon listing**](http://padlet.com/onyu/exordium-heresamap-baeksoo) ☆ [**map** of the pokemon world in korea](http://i.imgur.com/MF50lgT.jpg)

  
  
  
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